F1 News: Lando Norris Makes Honest Max Verstappen Admission Ahead Of Las Vegas GP

Saajan Jogia | 5 Hours Ago

Nov 20, 2024; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; McLaren driver Lando Norris (4) during media availabilities at Las Vegas Circuit. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

McLaren driver Lando Norris has made an honest admission about his championship battle against Max Verstappen, revealing he wasn't prepared for it. With three races remaining before the season ends, he also reflected on the 2024 season, acknowledging the mistakes made by both himself and his team.

Norris steadily closed the gap to Verstappen, with his momentum building significantly after the summer break. McLaren's efforts to challenge Red Bull, the dominant force in Formula 1, gained traction as the team mastered the ground-effect regulations to develop a formidable title contender. Additionally, balance issues with Red Bull's RB20 boosted McLaren's chances further, positioning the team as a genuine championship threat.

Although McLaren surpassed Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Norris still had a considerable challenge ahead. His championship hopes suffered a blow at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, where a late pit stop from McLaren, combined with a strategic safety car advantage for Red Bull, allowed Verstappen to claim victory despite starting 17th on the grid.

While meritocracy played its part, Norris' chances of winning the Drivers' Championship were significantly diminished. The McLaren driver owned up to the errors made throughout the season when asked if he would be taking back lessons for 2025. He said ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix:

“Yeah, I think going into a season with a mindset of let’s try and win it, it’s a very different mindset to what we had this year.

“It’s been a different story throughout the season. We started miles off the pace. We started third, fourth best team at the beginning of the year. We were for a long time.

“Red Bull was extremely dominant, more dominant than any other team has been for the rest of the year. We’ve been extremely quick and probably one of the quickest for the most part.

“But when we have been, it’s been by a much smaller margin. So to create the differences that they were able to create in the beginning of the year, it’s pretty much impossible.

“I feel like I’ve still done a very good job, but it’s clear… One thing you’ll always get from me is the honesty of whether I’ve done a good job, a bad job, or whether we as a team have done a good job or a bad job and I’ll be honest with what I say.

“I think there’s been plenty of races, there’s been a good few where we didn’t perform to the level we needed to do, as a team. Silverstone, for example, is one where we should have had probably a 1-2. And we couldn’t have finished further from a 1-2.

“There are sides where, as a team, we didn’t perform at the level we needed to do as a world championship-winning team but there’s also been plenty of times when I’ve not performed at the level I need to perform at to win a championship.”

Given the mindset with which Norris and McLaren started the season, a championship win seemed like an unlikely scenario. The British driver admitted that he wasn’t prepared for a title fight against the three-time world champion and Red Bull. He said:

“I probably wasn’t outright ready to go up against Red Bull and Max. I think I am now, and it’s probably too late to do that.

“Maybe there are other drivers in the past that were ready for such an occasion. But no one has gone up against Max so early on in kind of their career, halfway through the season, and put up, I think, a pretty reasonable fight.

“I mean, I’m there, but there’s no one else doing it, you know? So I’ve done my best. I’ve not done well enough. And I’ve always admitted that. And I think Max is probably one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1 and I don’t think you’ll probably get a much better driver than Max ever in Formula 1 ever again.

“That’s my opinion but that’s what I believe in and for me to go up against that belief, to fight against that person that I know is so good, takes a bit more than what I probably achieved this season, but I think what I’ve done since the summer break is closer to what I need to be, and I think that is close to being good enough to fighting for it next year.”