Norris has gained 35 points on Piastri since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, which Piastri won while Norris retired with a fuel-line failure.
That result made Piastri a strong title favourite, especially in the context of his consistency through the season up to that point. Norris is still one victory short of Piastri’s tally of six this season so far.
But Norris rejected the idea that he had started taking more risks since that race because he felt he had nothing to lose.
“Maybe in qualifying you think: ‘Well, may as well just go for it.’ But it’s not like every approach, every lap I do is ‘I’ve got nothing to lose here, let’s try a bit more.’ That’s certainly not true,” he said.
“I definitely wouldn’t put it down to that. I would put it more down to just having worked hard and having a very good team around me. I’d put 99% of it down to that, 1% a mix of various different things. But most results coming from work done rather than mentality or things.”
And he said he was not thinking about the fact that he was leading the championship for the first time since the fourth race of the season, unless other people brought it up with him.
“I don’t think in terms of races and achieving the actual dream of being a champion, I still at the minute don’t feel any difference. I think nothing’s completed, nothing’s done,” he said.
“There’s still, what, over 120 points or something available, so it doesn’t mean anything still for the time being.
“It’s a nice thought, again, to look on and think about, but otherwise it’s nice to be there, but to win next weekend and win the final race, that’s still my goal.”