Lando Norris is feeling at the peak of his abilities as he prepares for his Formula One title defence, despite acknowledging that his McLaren car still requires "quite a bit" of improvement.
The 26-year-old secured his maiden drivers’ world championship last season, dethroning Max Verstappen after a challenging year marked by personal doubts.
Having navigated the immense pressure to claim the crown, Norris now exudes confidence, though he recognises the significant work ahead for his team to contend with rivals Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull at next month's season opener in Melbourne.
Speaking in Bahrain, Norris stated: "At the minute, we’re a little bit off, so to match the race pace of some of the others, we have to push a bit more and then we have more degradations."
He added: "I would love to (win), but I don’t think there’s like a responsibility. Always in life I’ll do my best to defend it and continue it, but it’s a new season with loads of new challenges.
“It’s not as simple as just continuing from last year and saying it’s the same thing again. You know at the minute we have to improve the car quite a bit if we want to compete a bit more to be confident for the first race, but I feel confident."
Norris concluded, reflecting on his personal growth: "I feel better than I’ve ever done. Certainly after last year in winning the championship, that’s given me the confidence, so it’s reassuring to know that I’ve done it once and therefore I believe I can do it again.
“That’s a good thing, but it’s a long season and I’ll make sure I do my part. Together as a team we’ll make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity to do it again."
