DOHA -- A relaxed Lando Norris insisted it feels like business as usual ahead of a weekend in which he could clinch his first world championship.
The McLaren driver said he sees teammate Oscar Piastri and Red Bull's Max Verstappen as equal threats despite their radically different form coming into such a crucial race.
Norris is 24 points ahead of Piastri and Verstappen as F1 approaches the Qatar Grand Prix -- the penultimate race of 2025.
His lead over both would have been greater had McLaren not been sensationally disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix last Saturday for running two cars with illegal levels of plank wear underneath the car, a slam-dunk DQ under F1's rulebook.
"Of course it hurts," Norris said, reflecting on that outcome. "There's a lot of effort that goes into every weekend from everyone, including myself, and it certaintly just felt like that effort disappeared very quickly ... Everyone at McLaren feels let down by what we what we had as a result and we're all disappointed ... but actually I found it quite easy just to move on and have a few days off and come to this weekend."
Norris seemed to be in calm spirits during Thursday's media day, despite the magnitude of what's riding on the week.
He said he's been able to block out the noise and pressure.
"[It's felt] same as it has always been to be honest. I feel good. I've had a nice few days off. I came already on Monday morning so I've been here a while to play some golf, some padel, enjoyed some days off, enjoyed some warm weather for once ... feels like it's been a while!
"I know I feel good. I feel excited for this weekend. It doesn't feel like I had a bad weekend last weekend or we had a bad result so that's a good thing."
Regardless of his positive vibes, the Vegas situation has only raised the attention on Verstappen's incredible title challenge, which has come to life in the second half of the season.
On Thursday McLaren reiterated that it will not be implementing team orders to stave off the threat of the Red Bull driver until one of its two drivers is off the podium.
It might be considered a bold approach given recent form -- the Dutchman, winner of the last four championships, has not been off the podium since racing resumed after the summer break, with four of his six wins coming in the second half of the season.
Piastri's form has plummeted in the same time span. Piastri was 104 points ahead of Verstappen after winning the Dutch Grand Prix in late August and had a 34-point championship lead over Norris -- he's not been on the podium since the Italian Grand Prix in September.
Despite the massively differing form of his rivals, Norris said he sees both as a legitimate threat to his title chances.
Asked if he now views Verstappen as the main threat, Norris said: "No, both are the same I think. They're both just as good as one another I know what Max is capable of and I think Oscar is capable of exactly the same as what Max can do.
"So no, I think both have pros and cons ... [Max] being in a different team and Oscar also being in the same team ... but each driver wants to fight for their own thing and prove that they're the best.
"I think they're both competitive, they're both very strong, they're both incredible drivers and I'm excited to give them a good fight on track."
Asked if he felt any added pressure from Verstappen being so much closer, Norris pointed out that his gap to Piastri was the same ahead of the Nevada race too.
"No because the gap before was 24 and it's still 24 so my lead is the same. Nothing needs to change. I think we were still quick last weekend we would have been even quicker without the issues. I think we know Red Bull have just been quick lately so we expect them to be quicker this weekend we expect them to be good next weekend but there's nothing that needs to change from anyone's side.
"We treated Max and Red Bull as a great team and a great competitor the whole season and that just continues now so no, nothing changes for all of us."