Norris delivers 'bigger risk' Red Bull claim

Lando Norris believes Red Bull are in a position to take "bigger risks" given the "bigger job" facing the reigning champions in the constructors' battle.

Having fallen to third, behind McLaren and Ferrari, the 25-year-old feels Red Bull is now freed from the constraints of defending a lead.

Having claimed the past two constructors' titles, the Milton Keynes team now sits 13 points behind the Scuderia and 49 adrift of the front-running Woking squad.

McLaren had a difficult Americas triple-header, losing ground to Ferrari and seeing both Norris and Oscar Piastri fail to capitalise on the pace of the MCL38.

The British driver knows both he and his team-mate will need to "do a better job" if McLaren is going to fend off its two title rivals and win a first constructors' crown since 1998.

"From a constructors' point of view, Red Bull have a much bigger job to do," Norris told media including RacingNews365. "They can afford to take much bigger risks... and hope that they pay off.

"I think we've been doing a good job staying out of trouble, keeping the cars clean.

"We've had a couple of unlucky weekends, both from either my side or Oscar side, but we have to do a better job, especially against Ferrari. We need two cars up there fighting every weekend."

McLaren 'knew' it would be fighting Ferrari

McLaren had to reel in Red Bull over a prolonged period, ending the team's run of having led the constructors' fight since the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix.

Having trailed by 99 points after the fifth event of the year, in China, it would take a subsequent 12 rounds to overhaul that advantage, finally surpassing Red Bull at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

However, Norris insists that given the momentum sitting squarely with McLaren and Ferrari, his team's fight has always been the with Italian marque.

"Our battle with Ferrari in the constructors' has been evident since 10 races ago," the three-time grand prix winner stated.

"It was clear that the momentum McLaren and Ferrari had was way more than Red Bull.

"So Ferrari have been our biggest competitor since probably 9 [or] 10, races ago, already. They were the guys we knew at the end of the year we'd be fighting, not Red Bull."