Lando Norris: Drivers are always complaining about something!

      Lando Norris believes that he and the McLaren team handled the tasks during the São Paulo Grand Prix weekend very well, although he admitted it was not easy.

      Question: You had a great race and a great Brazilian weekend overall — you must be satisfied with the result?

      Lando Norris: To be honest, I’m quite satisfied. Both the day and the weekend were excellent. Although I must admit it was tough. Working on the track was difficult, but that only increases the value of the victory. I think we did everything we needed to: we had a good start, good pit stops, effective strategy and a decent pace.

      But I would like the race pace to be even higher, so there’s still stuff for us to analyze, although I was ahead in every session when I needed to be. That’s precisely why I flew to Brazil, so right now I’m very pleased.

      Question: You say you had some difficulties this weekend. Can you tell us what they were?

      Lando Norris: Drivers always complain about something! There were issues with the car’s balance. However, I’m sure others could say the same. For example, at the previous round in Mexico I was happy with the balance, and we won there by 30 seconds. This weekend we won the race by 10 seconds, and as you saw Max Verstappen was catching up to us very quickly.

      McLaren has high standards, and it should be that way. When we beat everyone by 10 seconds, you want that margin to be a bit bigger — although I realise that sounds silly. In any case, to build a 10-second gap I literally had to fight with the car.

      Overall, it was harder than I would have liked. Nevertheless, of course I’m very pleased with how things went this weekend, and I’m proud of our whole team.

      Question: It seems you were pleased with the effectiveness of the Medium tyre; what can you say about the pace on the Softs?

      Lando Norris: It wasn’t as good, although the final stint on the Medium tyres wasn’t the best either, unlike the first stint which went really well. But for the third stint I had a scrubbed set of Mediums that had already done seven or eight laps. Overall, I think the pace on that tyre was at a good level all weekend.

      The pace on the Softs was just okay. I can’t say anything about the Hards — I didn’t use them. In short, I definitely prefer Mediums, but we’ll see how we approach things next time.

      Question: You now lead the championship by 24 points. Can you say this weekend was something of a turning point in the season?

      Lando Norris: No. It’s just another weekend where I set out to try to win and score as many points as possible — and I managed to do that. I acted the same way last weekend, so I don’t think the Mexican or the Brazilian rounds can be called turning points.

      I simply achieved good results — that’s what I need. That’s why I race each weekend, so right now I’m very pleased. Although there’s still a long way to go until the end of the championship, so it’s too early to celebrate too much.

      Question: Let’s talk about the next round in Las Vegas. Cooler weather is expected there — will that help or hurt McLaren?

      Lando Norris: It will definitely hurt. I think we had our worst race of the season there last year. So I don’t have big expectations. We’re working hard to make some improvements. We know that a year ago Mercedes were incredibly strong there, and the same applies to Red Bull and Ferrari.

      Of course, this year we’ve improved a lot, so we’ll see what we can do. I’m not overly negative about it, and a lot can still happen. But we’re more looking forward to the races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi than to Las Vegas.

      Question: After the race you said you’re in good shape now and don’t pay attention to what people say about you. Could you expand on that, since the ability to shut out external noise probably helps in your bid to win the championship?

      Lando Norris: To be honest, there isn’t much to comment on. There are always people who try to spoil your mood a bit. I think that’s normal. But when you perform at an international level, there’s a lot said about you, and different people try to affect your mentality.

      Sometimes the crowd won’t applaud you and behaves differently, and that’s not pleasant. But I think I’ve handled this pretty well in recent months. I do care about what and how the press writes about me — maybe I care too much. Especially at the start of the year it was like that, and it probably affected me not in the best way.

      I’m just learning to deal with it better, and I’m not saying I don’t pay attention at all, because I still want to make a good impression. But I always try to express my opinion, to speak about what I believe in. That’s one of the most important lessons I’ve learned: you have to believe in yourself and say what you think is right. In general, my task is not only to keep pushing and be completely focused only on work.

      Question: Are you worried about Max Verstappen despite your championship lead?

      Lando Norris: I have no doubt he will be a threat in races, although I wouldn’t speak categorically about the championship. Predicting is pointless, but considering he was very quick today, you have to admit he could have won if he had started from higher positions. But that’s racing.

      Still, I’ll repeat: this weekend we achieved the maximum possible result — that’s how we should perform. Max will always be a threat, he’s a real fighter, and I have no doubt he will fight until the end. I’m looking forward to that.