Norris responds to 'silly' Alonso confidence jibe

Lando Norris has responded to Fernando Alonso's jibe over McLaren becoming "overconfident" in its pursuit to finish ahead of Aston Martin in Formula 1 Constructors' Championship.

McLaren has endured a consistent uptake in form since its big update at the Austrian Grand Prix, which has enabled Lando Norris to become the second highest points scorer in the last eight races.

The team sits 11 points behind Aston Martin, having achieved a double podium at the last two races in Japan and Qatar.

When asked about the comments, Norris told media, including RacingNews365: "How many points did we catch in Suzuka? 20? So unless his maths is deteriorating.... Which it definitely isn't!

"Fernando is just Fernando, he's always gonna say things, he always makes himself look very good or other makes other people look bad."

Norris: McLaren not overconfident

Norris has nearly eclipsed the seven podiums achieved by Alonso with his latest at Qatar, having been only on 12 points when the Spaniard took his sixth podium in Canada.

He feels McLaren is now more consistently in the top ten versus Aston Martin, whose second driver Lance Stroll has yet to score points since the start of the summer break.

"I don't think we're overconfident in any way. I think we're the last people who have ever been overconfident in saying anything. Especially myself," added Norris.

"With two cars performing well for them, they struggled to have two cars up there in Q3, the end of the race, I would say it's silly for him to think the opposite.

"But he's a smart guy. I'm confident we can do it just because if we can have more P2 and P3s, then of course it's possible."