MELBOURNE: Lando Norris said on ‌Thursday that winning his first Formula One championship had only made him hungry for more as he gears up to launch his title defense at the Australian ​Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver said that claiming the drivers’ crown had not changed his work ethic or his desire to be regarded a “hunter” rather than “the hunted.”
“I’ve probably done the most training and things during the course of the off-season than I’ve ever done,” the Briton told reporters at Albert Park.
“So it’s certainly not the case that I was relaxing more or partying more or whatever it might have been. It ‌was quite ‌the opposite, in fact.
“No, I’m still just as ​hungry. ‌I ⁠think ​it made ⁠me want it more, in a way, because you get that feeling.
“The same as when you have one win, you want another one in a race.
“For me, it was the same feeling as a championship; that one is amazing, but then you definitely want to achieve two.”
Norris won last year’s race from pole after arriving in Melbourne raving about the ⁠car’s performance during winter testing.
The constructors champions are less ‌bullish about the MCL40 car’s off-season performance ‌this year, with team boss Andrea Stella saying ​they were a step behind ‌Ferrari and Mercedes.
Norris’s teammate Oscar Piastri, who led last year’s championship ‌before finishing third, was similarly reserved about their early-season prospects, saying on Wednesday they should not be considered favorites to win in Melbourne.
Norris was more upbeat.
“Even if you’re second, third, or fourth quickest, I don’t think that’s on the back ‌foot,” he said.
“I think that’s still a very good position to start in. And I think in ⁠previous years where ⁠it’s been harder to improve over the course of a season, we’ve certainly proved that you could.”
This year’s championship has plenty of unknowns due to F1’s major overhaul to chassis and engine regulations.
Ferrari’s seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton said drivers faced their most challenging season ever as they grappled with the power management demands of the more electrified engines.
Norris said he was still adapting to the changes and would probably continue to well into the season.
“(It will) probably (be) at least a third of the way through this year until we drive different tracks, ​different tires, different tarmacs, different ​weather conditions until I can get close to that level of accuracy that I was requiring last year,” he said.