Sawt Falasteen - Norris and Piastri taking championship battle in their stride

Norris finished second in the championship last season and was viewed as McLaren's top driver but Piastri has won three of the last four races and has a 10-point advantage over the British driver.

"No worry at all. He's doing a good job and he deserves it. Nothing more than that. I don't believe so much in the momentum stuff," said Norris, who won the season opener in Australia.

"No reason to be worried. It's round six of 24. I'm not going to say that forever, I know I need to get a move on and I need to get into gear a little bit. I'm doing the best I can every week and every minute," he added.

"Clearly I've made some mistakes and I'm not at the level I need to be, but I believe I can be at the level soon enough," he said.

Norris is back at the scene of his first F1 win, at Miami last year, and is hoping that the vibes from that success will help lift him.

"It is a place that brings good memories. I dreamt as a kid to win in F1 and standing on the top step and I was able to do it here.

"There are a lot of things that have brought a smile to my face since I have returned, and I plan to do it again," he said.

Australian Piastri says he is enjoying coming into the race as the leader but says it is far too early to start thinking about the battle for the title.

"I've been enjoying it a lot. Every time you can go into a weekend and know you have got a very good chance of winning the race and if you do a good enough job then you will win the race, that is always a nice position to be in," he said.

"Winning races is what is exciting at the moment, I think the championship lead is nice but...I'm much proud and satisfied of the work and the reasons why I am leading the championship than the actual fact that I am leading," he said.

"I think we have just done a very solid job the whole season," he added.

G.AbuHamad--SF-PST