The Briton, who had finished fourth in Saudi Arabia, had said: “Red Bull are just as quick in qualifying. They're just as quick as us in the race. Just because we're quick in practice, people just keep coming up with all this this crap.

Going into the new Formula One season, so much attention was being placed on Lando Norris as the championship favorite. McLaren’s surge to last year’s constructors’ championship was spearheaded by Norris,

In another interview, the 25-year-old revealed that he will be training hard during the break between this event and the Miami Grand Prix in two weeks’ time. Norris now trails team-mate Piastri by 10 points in the Drivers’ Championship standings, and the Australian is in red-hot form with three wins in the last four race weekends.