McLaren teammates have differing opinions on the car's advantages.

      "Max was definitely faster than I anticipated."

      They have yet to have a significant confrontation on the track, but off it, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri disagree on one specific topic. After crashing during qualifying and finishing P4 in the Saudi Arabian GP, former championship leader Norris asserted that McLaren might no longer have the fastest car in Formula 1. However, this did not come as a surprise to him.

      "No, it's not unexpected," Norris stated. "They (Red Bull) are just as quick as us both in qualifying and during the race," noted the British driver, whose teammate Piastri won in Jeddah and took over the lead in points. "Just because we are quick in practice, people are saying all sorts of nonsense," Norris continued. "Let them say what they want. We don’t think we have much of an advantage. I genuinely believe Max (Verstappen) would have been the fastest in the race if he hadn’t received that penalty.

      "People keep claiming we are the best and the fastest, but that's only because we show a bit more speed in practice—then it disappears in qualifying. That's how we operate. That’s our belief in how we optimize things. If we didn’t do it this way, we’d be even further behind."

      Norris thus left Jeddah not only committed to reducing his own mistakes but also stated that McLaren has "work to do." "We struggle on a track like this," he said. "We face disadvantages with DRS compared to the other teams. We're not quick enough on the straights."

      When asked about his teammate’s comments, championship leader Piastri offered a clear response on whether he agrees: "No," the Australian replied with a smile. "I believe our car is still faster. Max was quicker than I expected for sure, and undoubtedly we have some work ahead of us, but I think our car remains very strong. We still hold an advantage. I don’t think it’s as significant on tracks like this with layouts like this, but we still have a very competitive car at this moment."

      Nevertheless, McLaren CEO Zak Brown leans slightly more towards Norris’ viewpoint, including the idea that while Red Bull tends to use less engine power on Fridays, McLaren adopts a different strategy. "You never know which strategy is being utilized in practice," he explained to Sky Deutschland. "Our race pace is better than our single lap performance. We're competitive on a single lap as well, but Max is a strong driver, and so are Mercedes and Ferrari.

      "You can certainly expect all four to win races this year," Brown added. So, while Norris and Piastri have differing opinions off the track, Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko believes the true advantage for Verstappen's team is that the orange duo are both in the battle for the world championship. "I doubt that either of them will comply with any team orders," he shared with ORF, "and it’s actually a fantastic opportunity for us to see them compete against each other. We’d prefer if one wins alternately, then the other," Marko added with a smile.