Lando Norris said he won’t “beg” for number one status at McLaren, but admitted he would prefer to have it.
On Sunday Norris finished immediately behind team mate Oscar Piastri for the second time in four races. Norris is the closest challenger to Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, but McLaren have so far refused to instruct Piastri to give up places to his team mate.Norris insisted Piastri does help him on track, but said “I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me pass.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” Norris continued. “I’m here to race. He drove a better race than me, so I finished third, and that’s where I deserved to finish.”
However Norris admitted he “would love it” if McLaren gave him their full support to cut Verstappen’s points lead. “But it’s not up to me.
“It’s tough, because obviously I think as any driver, you don’t want it. You know you don’t want things to just be played that way. It’s a tough one.”
Norris has eight rounds left to close down Verstappen’s 62-point lead. The maximum score available for a driver between now and the end of the season is 232.
“Obviously, I wouldn’t say we’re running out of time, but time is going away slowly, and I still believe we can do it,” said Norris. “The pace is obviously great. I still believe we’re probably close to, if not the best car again today.”
On Sunday Norris lost the lead from pole position on the first lap, as he has done all seven times he has started there in Formula 1. He said he needs to perform better to avoid losing more points in coming races.
“I think we’re still working together well. We’re still helping one another and I think that showed plenty of times this year that we’re working together very well as a team and we’re performing as the best team out on the grid and we’re very happy with that.
“When you’re fighting for a championship, you want every little thing and I’m doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race. And I didn’t do that because of some silly things.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories - and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2024 Italian Grand Prix
- Verstappen faces post-race investigation along with five other drivers and McLaren
- Red Bull lose constructors’ championship lead for first time in two years
- “Never had so much pain in a car”: How Colapinto impressed Williams on his debut
- F1’s most competitive season for 47 years? Four teams now have three wins each
- “Can I have my PU performance back?” – Verstappen’s “tough” Monza race on his radio
Jere (@jerejj)
3rd September 2024, 8:23
First, he needs to start covering attacks better even further into the opening lap.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
3rd September 2024, 10:36
My guess is Norris didn’t expect a full on attack from his teammate, probably because they were grilled before the race with the infamous “papaya rules”.
But to me this was like two strikers breaking away with only the goalkeeper to beat, and then one of them decides to slide tackle his own teammate just to hog the goal—only to completely whiff the shot!
MacLeod (@macleod)
3rd September 2024, 14:32
Right then he is a fool as those rule says your free to race only respect eachother and don’t crash.
Lando should do what Max did just take his place one way or his way as long he is first.
You want to be champion then you have to fight for it !
An Sionnach
3rd September 2024, 18:02
If Lando did this they may both have ended up out of the race. He showed the kind of patience he needs to show and closed the gap to Max by eight points. If he does this in all of the remaining races he will win the championship. He’s keeping his head and chipping away at the lead.
Max doesn’t think he’ll win any more races with this car and he’s probably right.
Dex
3rd September 2024, 21:26
How did he show patience? What could he possibly do? He didn’t have to pace to try to retaliate, if that would be his choice (I don’t think it would be). He didn’t seem very patient, or even reasonable, a couple of races ago, when he created a whole drama for his own team. Norris shows plenty of qualities, but not those you speak of, not yet.
Pressure gets to him, but to be fair, he’s never been in this position before. Pressure used to get to Verstappen or Hamilton too, or any other successful driver I can think of. Norris, for now, wastes at least 50% of his chances to score big. This time he was simply outraced by Piastri, it’s that simple.
Mooa42
4th September 2024, 1:19
@Jere I think Lando actually should start concentrating on looking forward rather than spending time looking back. He had Piastri covered into turn one but braked too early and allowed Pisatri to become level by the time they turned in, which in turn allowed Piastri to get a run down the next straight and affect the overtake.
These sort of overtakes, (around the outside), appear to Piastri’s MO, he did the same thing to Sainz at turn one in Monaco, Perez and Hamilton in Hungary and a few others I can’t remember where. Very clinical and measured. Piastri seems to be great at starts and understanding the grip level, just not so great at keeping the tyres alive over a stint.
Addme (@dontme)
3rd September 2024, 9:50
As a race fan I love this. But you also have to realise how rare it is to have a car that is so good and clearly ahead of the competition at this point. Every point matters and I think that is why ruthless and selfish drivers win more.
Mr B
3rd September 2024, 9:51
As I mentioned in another post I would imagine that Piastri’s manager, Mark Webber, will do everything in his power to ensure that Piastri doesn’t suffer in the same way at McLaren as Mark did at Red Bull as a clearly defined second driver.
Additionally I think Lando will need to behave like a clear number 1 driver before it is even considered.
David BR (@david-br)
3rd September 2024, 10:24
I see that as a problem. Webber v. Vettel at Red Bull in the 2010s is not the same as Norris v. Piastri at McLaren now. Webber was in more of a Pérez situation, nominally a competitor with his team mate but not really expected by the team to beat him over a season. McLaren evidently see Piastri as equal to Norris. Massa helped Raikkonen in 2007 and vice-versa in 2008 with neither driver seen as demoted to number two. It’s unusual but not impossible for two ‘equal number one’ drivers in unequal championship positions to assist rather than compete (arguably sometimes counterproductively for both).
Jonathan Parkin
3rd September 2024, 11:31
Although he nearly did in 2010. Where would he have finished in the championship had he not crashed in South Korea
V. Chris (@vasschu)
3rd September 2024, 12:39
2010 is one of the worse seasons to play the ‘what if’ game, because there were 5 drivers competing for the title, every one of them had its share of very bad luck and every one of them had off races where they could have achieved more.
MichaelN
3rd September 2024, 14:55
Webber was not a ‘second driver’, Red Bull allowed them to race and didn’t play favourites. Even when Webber seemed the better bet for the 2010 title, they still didn’t tell Vettel to gift him the in Brazil. A choice that turned out to be correct, as Webber crumbled towards the end of the season while Vettel rose to the occasion.
It was Webber’s inability to understand the Pirelli tyres that saw him drop into that second fiddle role from 2011 onwards; something he openly admitted having problems with. But he still wasn’t exactly a cooperative wingman. Even with Vettel’s championship on the line in Brazil 2012 he raced him hard. It’s stuff like that from Webber’s side that eventually led to the Multi-21 saga in Malaysia.
McLaren’s ideal to let their two drivers race is laudable. But – it’s only laudable if both have a chance at the title, like McLaren in 2010, Mercedes in 2014-2016 or Ferrari in 2008. Right now, Norris is their only hope of getting near Verstappen in the standings, not Piastri. If they let Piastri exploit that extra bit of caution on Norris’ side to just ‘yolo’ for random race wins, the dynamic in the team could become a serious issue. Like it did at Red Bull.
MarkWebber (@markwebber)
4th September 2024, 4:13
Red Bull had committed to favoring Vettel before the 2010 season began. This was most evident at Silverstone when Vettel destroyed his new updated front wing in free practice, Horner decided to give Vettel Webber’s wing citing championship standings as justification. Webber went on to win that race anyway and when the team congratulated him on the radio, he replied with his now famous line: “Not bad for a number 2 driver”, which made it clear that it was not an isolated incident.
You’re right about 2011 onwards, Webber wasn’t as competitive but his role in the team was decided even before that.
Nick T.
4th September 2024, 0:42
I have said recently and long ago: “I’m sure Webber, based on his own career experience, is doing everything to ensure Piastri resists that role because it’s very easy for that “temporary” wingman role to become an unspoken permanent role, especially since Lando already has a raw pace advantage.”
And, as has been talked to exhaustion, Lando only has himself to blame for blowing so many opportunities that could have put him in a position to be getting team orders, but he didn’t and since winning the WDC would require both a full melt down from RBR and utter domination for the rest of the season by a driver who hasn’t shown he is capable of that consistency, it is fully understandable why McLaren haven’t told OP he can’t try to pass Lando. Like others though, I simply don’t get not swapping 2nd and 3rd.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th September 2024, 12:00
Piastri was ahead on merit at that point, and it’s 3 measly points. It made more sense to try and go for the win with norris, instead of allowing piastri to overtake him + make him lose another position on lap 1.
Markos
3rd September 2024, 9:59
Lando should earn a number 1 status on the track.
Peter707
4th September 2024, 9:01
I absolutely agree. Norris got much more points in the first half of the year. In a tight competition, it is more than enough for number 1 status in the remainder of the season. McLaren should decide whether they want to take advantage of their first chance in 15 years to get the title, or not.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th September 2024, 12:13
I agree with what you’re saying, just pointing out that you misunderstood markos comment, he’s saying norris did NOT do enough to be given number 1 status and that he should perform better for that to be given to him.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th September 2024, 12:13
markos’*
Doh
3rd September 2024, 10:02
Does anyone else find this confusing since, in the past lando has been just as vocal as Russel often calling to be let by whenever behind his teammates?
RUTH222
3rd September 2024, 23:58
There’s a difference in being let by for the sake of being let by and getting teamorders in your favour because it could win you and the team the championship.
Norris could have been 13 points closer to Verstappen. With 8 races to go, that does make a difference.
Nick T.
4th September 2024, 0:46
Yes. And it’s also confusing since he said just last week he hasn’t earned #1 status. However, he should have voiced why swapping 2nd and 3rd on the radio would make sense. He wouldn’t need to beg. He should have at least asked the team to ask OP if he’d be OK with the swap if he hadn’t caught Leclerc by the end. Put the onus on OP to be selfish about a non-winning position.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th September 2024, 12:16
That seems just unnecessary for so few points, I’m more baffled they didn’t have an agreement before the race started where, had norris stayed ahead in turn 1, piastri would’ve given him a bit more breathing room, he did much more damage there than not letting him past in the end.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
3rd September 2024, 10:04
He needs to earn it first. I feel like Norris has been thrown into a title fight he wasn’t ready for.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
3rd September 2024, 10:54
Lando needs to get in touch with his inner pimp.
Honda
4th September 2024, 16:32
Norris will beat Piastri overall but if Piastri can beat Norris in few more races that will help Max. Mclaren are just too dumb to realize this.
Konstantinos
4th September 2024, 23:47
I think that the might be something at play here that we don’t know about. Maybe they would just rather have two drivers that are pushing each other and that feel like they have an equal chance in future championships. Who knows what other factor is influencing their decision.
The idea that they are just sitting there not understanding the situation, being too dumb, is just so obsurd to me, surely nobody thinks this really. The idea is what exactly, that they haven’t done the math yet?
Mayrton
5th September 2024, 7:09
That ship has sailed. Both Lando and the team are not championship material yet.