Lando Norris is dreaming of a first Grand Prix win in Japan after becoming the best of the rest - but admits McLaren are still 'too far away' to challenge Red Bull in Suzuka

Lando Norris is becoming used to being the best of the rest. Probably a little too much for his own liking.

A fortnight ago in Melbourne, the Brit became the unfortunate holder of a dubious honour, that being the driver with the most podium finishes without a single race win to their name.

Most are certain he will be victorious one day. If and when he is then that swig of champagne will taste a lot sweeter on the top step of the podium.

It seems improbable, though, that Norris will break that duck at Sunday morning’s Japanese Grand Prix.

At least not after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez looked to be in a class of their own around the exhilarating peaks and troughs of Suzuka during qualifying for Sunday's race.

Verstappen, the bit well and truly between the Dutchman’s teeth following his early retirement in Australia, topped the timesheet in Japan, though his team-mate was not far behind.

Perez, it would seem, is the man most likely to stand between Verstappen and victory here given there is no inclination that those reliability problems will rear their head once again.

But starting on the second row after qualifying third, Norris has good reason to believe he can lead the challenge for the rest of the field and upset the Red Bull apple cart. This is a track the McLaren driver has experienced success at before having claimed second place behind Verstappen at last year's race.

‘I'd say yes,’ said the 24-year-old when asked whether Sunday was his best chance to shoe-horn his way in-between the Red Bulls in recent memory. ‘It's so tricky, Sergio is doing a good job. So there's one much harder car to keep up with.

‘But we proved last year when we were further away from them that we could keep in touch and not be miles behind. So that'll be our target.

‘But I think realistically, we're still too far away to challenge them they are too quick for us. Yes, we are quicker in qualifying. But in the race normally they pull away a bit more.

'Our competition is with the guys behind and at same time, I'll do my best to push forward.’

Norris was the best of the Brits today as Mercedes’ struggles rolled into yet another race weekend.

Lewis Hamilton was incredulous upon learning over the team radio just how far he lagged behind pacesetter Verstappen during the final qualifying session. The seven-time world champion will start seventh but did out-qualify team-mate George Russell, who was a disappointing ninth-quickest, for the first time this season.

Though it is abundantly clear that the Mercedes is not taking a shine to the high-speed corners of this relentlessly demanding track, Hamilton was able to take heart from feeling somewhat at home in his car for the first time in recent memory.

‘I think we did a really good job this past week, the analysis everyone has done at the factory just to try and understand how we can get the car in the sweet spot,’ said the 39-year-old, who will join Ferrari from next season.

‘The car’s been much nicer to drive this weekend and particularly at a track like this where you need a nice balance. This is the nicest it’s felt over the last three years.’