Lando Norris admitted he felt deflated after dropping crucial points to Max Verstappen in the title battle in the last round at Interlagos.
Verstappen won the Brazilian Grand Prix from 17th on the grid after a remarkable drive in the heavily wet conditions. Norris had started from pole position but finished in sixth.The result meant Norris fell from 47 points adrift from the championship leader with four rounds remaining to 62 points behind heading into the final three. Verstappen has his first opportunity to clinch this year’s world title during Saturday’s grand prix.
Norris says he took time to overcome the disappointment of losing so much ground to his rival and accepting his championship chances are virtually over for this season.
“For a week, I was pretty down after Brazil because I had that realisation that things are pretty much out of my control now – not within reach necessarily,” Norris said. “And that’s a tough realisation when hopes and your belief is so high, for it to get knocked down so much all of a sudden was pretty demoralising and not the best of feelings. But you learn to accept that’s life.
“I admitted even in Miami that I was lucky in Miami to get the win, with the Safety Car, and that’s the strategy you play. I think Brazil was still a little bit more luck of the trade, but that is Formula 1. That’s racing. I’ve not complained about it. Luck can be on your side. It can be on other people’s side. That’s life. So I don’t mind. One day it will go your way, the next it won’t.”
Despite his looming defeat in the championship, Norris has enjoyed his most successful season by far in Formula 1 with three grand prix victories, seven pole positions, 12 podiums and over 300 points so far. Asked what he has learned from this season, Norris said he is now sure he “has what it takes” to fight for championship titles in the future.
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“I think it’s the first time in the last six years of Formula 1 when we’ve had a chance to fight at the front,” he said. “We’ve not been able to do that for the last six years, so this is our – and my – first opportunity to do so and my first opportunity to see where I stand.
“But I still need to make tweaks. I still need to improve on things – that’s clear. I’m not completely satisfied with how I’ve done. I definitely know I need to make improvements, but for the first time I’m confident to say that I have what I think I need to fight for a championship.
“It doesn’t mean I’m complete. Doesn’t mean I’m perfect, that’s for sure. When you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him and challenge the teams around. So I’m confident and I think the main thing I can take away is I have faith that I have got what it takes to fight for a championship.”
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2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix
- “Disappointing” Las Vegas GP performance prompts ticketing changes for 2025 race
- Vowles clarifies Colapinto’s claim he was concussed in Las Vegas crash
- Norris lost title because McLaren weren’t competitive enough early on – Stella
- Ferrari are now in their longest-ever championship drought
- F1 “was trying too hard” in first year at Las Vegas – Sainz
BasCB (@bascb)
21st November 2024, 7:34
I find it really interesting how Lando is rather open in talking about what he struggles with. I’ve seen far too many criticize it as him being weak and not up to it, but to me it shows his development and is interesting to actually read.
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st November 2024, 8:00
@bascb That was never a secret as he is very open with his comments but to be Champion you have to be ruthless when a chance comes he have to grab it and we see a bit too much errors from him.
But we will see in 2025 if he is on top after 6 races I will give him a good chance …
Illusive (@illusive)
21st November 2024, 9:01
I like that about Lando, he isnt a PR bot. I am not his biggest fan but to admit your weakness actually takes lot of guts, honesty and also determination to fix it. So for Lando’s sake I hope he overcomes whats holding him back and wins a drivers championship in future. He certainly has the talent and speed, he just needs to get small details right.
MichaelN
21st November 2024, 11:44
Self criticism is good, to a point. It can also be a defense mechanism, as in: don’t bother to criticise me, I do that myself!
The 2024 season didn’t show that Norris can be champion. The way he lost points over the summer was simply not good enough. Verstappen was vulnerable then, and Norris didn’t capitalise. At all.
Andrea Ferrero (@telegrafista)
21st November 2024, 14:01
Correct. If anything, 2024 showed that he isn’t in the same category as Verstappen. Maybe he can still improve.
Riccard
21st November 2024, 17:57
He showed what it takes to be champion most years. If he were team lead in a dominant car, he’d convert it to a victory. But like Hamilton in 2021, if his car is only a little bit better than the others, he can be beaten by a driver with a better season.
SPArtacus
22nd November 2024, 2:32
You can’t compare him to Hamilton in 2021. Like Max, Lewis was usually finishing 40+ seconds ahead of his teammate. I agree though that Norris would have easily won titles in the 2014-2020 Mercs, but like F1’s other greats, he utterly crushed the field rather than simply scraped across. We saw how Vettel just fell apart despite having a car that could give the Merc a run for the title.
Albo94
21st November 2024, 8:01
2024 actually showed that he is not championship material. Or at least not yet. With the best car since May, he won only three times: in Miami thanks to a SC, and in Zandvoort + Singapore with a dominant car (in the latter, he almost crashed twice). Admittedly, he should have won in Canada and at Silverstone too, but the team didn’t help him choosing the right strategy.
Craig
21st November 2024, 10:10
And other cars have been better at different phases of the season. This isn’t like the first half of the season where there was on absolutely clearly best car.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st November 2024, 21:54
Yes, this is true, red bull was dominant early on, while mclaren has only been the best car on occasion, even though races like singapore and zandvoort the margin was big.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st November 2024, 21:54
Ferrari for example was better in mexico and usa.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st November 2024, 22:29
No, it shows that teams that show no hard preference towards any driver, will most likely lose in the driver’s championship.
Also, what ever changed at RBR right at or before Miami, is probably the real reason this season was “interesting” at all.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st November 2024, 8:46
Did it, though? He didn’t extract all he could out of every result. I’d say, more often than not, he failed to do so. Winning a couple of races doesn’t make you a championship contender, you’ve got to be on it every weekend.
GeeMac (@geemac)
21st November 2024, 11:34
@fer-no65 Absolutely. What he’s shown is that he is good enough to be near the front regularly in a good car which, with respect, practically all of the 20 drivers on the grid could do. In addition, he’s shown that when the press started to hype up the “title fight” that he buckled somewhat and failed to catch Verstappen at anything like the required rate, making multiple mistakes along the way.
I like Norris’ honestly and applaud the fact he is willing to talk about his struggles, but he is simply not quite there yet. If Ferrari are in the mix next season I’d be backing Hamilton or Leclerc to challenge Verstappen over Norris every day of the week.
SPArtacus
21st November 2024, 13:43
Precisely. Norris has stunning raw speed, but not much else when it’s counted. Maybe he’ll be able to work on himself and change that, but he’ll be in his 8th season next year. He’s no spring chicken.
David BR (@david-br)
21st November 2024, 18:55
@fer-no65 I kind of feel enough has already been said, but yes, Norris and McLaren missed the chance for a drivers title through their own mistakes and inability to capitalize. Verstappen hasn’t been flawless, but he’s been far better and he’s the current level to beat.
SPArtacus
22nd November 2024, 2:34
Yes, I feel like it’s getting a little cruel and repetitive at this point (the frequent articles on how he didn’t rise to the occasion).
PeteB (@peteb)
21st November 2024, 9:03
This year showed he could be a champion if he has a dominant car but it also showed he’s not got what it takes to win a closely fought championship. He’s a really quick driver but he lacks the ruthless, nasty edge that Hamilton, Verstappen, Vettel, Schumacher, Rosberg, Alonso etc all have.
People can focus on his poor starts or the mistakes he’s made but those are things that can be worked on and improved. For me, the problem is his lack of aggression and fight. At COTA, he made a decent start and the first corner was his. What did he do? He left a huge gap on the inside and Max (who arguably has too much aggression and fight) dived straight up the inside. Then later in the race, the roles were reversed and of course, Max left absolutely no room on the inside and when Lando tried to go around the outside, he pushed him off the track (as we all* knew he was going to do).
* – “all” in this case, of course, excludes Lando Norris who was the only person on the planet that didn’t seem expect it.
My worry is that I don’t think you can learn the stuff that Lando is lacking. You either have it in you or you don’t. Lando is a nice guy like Bottas and Button – Champions aren’t nice guys when they’re in the middle of a championship fight.
baasbas
21st November 2024, 9:38
@peteb
Your assessment is harsh but realistic I guess and I almost completely agree with it. I think and hope that he can learn though.
If we now read about him being down for a week after the Brazil result, that’s a start. But now that needs to sit in his head all winter and translate to determination. It did happen for Rosberg. He pushed himself to his limits and he did it. Also to the point where he couldn’t do it again after achieving his goal.. I don’t want that to happen, I’d like Lando to stay healthy, but for me Rosberg showed it can be done so I’m not dismissing Lando as champion material. I see it like this: yes he is very experienced in terms of F1, but he has no experience as a F1 title contender. And that goes for the team as well. They’ll make less and less mistakes
PeteB (@peteb)
21st November 2024, 15:16
Yeah that’s fair with Rosberg – we’ll see if Lando can do it. I guess that was sort of my point though with what you said at the end. He is trying to learn how to be a F1 title contender whereas Lewis was there already the moment he sat in an F1 car.
ludewig
21st November 2024, 17:12
@baasbas
Rosberg had to push himself so far outside this comfort zone that he couldn’t do it anymore.
And Lando already often comes across as depressed to me, so the main thing I hope he learn is to enjoy himself more.
M2X
21st November 2024, 10:02
With the emotional post race and socials remarks Lando has made over the years about Vettel, Hamilton and Verstappen I don’t even think he is such a nice guy. At those moments he comes across as spoiled petulant and disrespectful child, that fails to recognize the skills in those drivers.
tielemst
21st November 2024, 10:42
Maybe, and a lot of them were live so for all to see, but the respect for Max he showed in the interview is not included in this article (translating myself from dutch, so this might be wonky). He said “we did our best but it wasn’t good enough. Not good enough against Max, who is one of the best drivers ever. And there will not be a better driver soon is my firm belief. He is also quoted saying the remarks after the Sao Paulo GP were not meant the way it sounded. “A lot of it was taken out of context. I didn’t mean it that way, but at the same time I realize I won’t be able to see it from my side. I’ve maybe made some more enemies and on the other side friends.
So I think the respect is there, but in and moments out of the car the adrenaline is really high and you say stuff that shouldn’t be taken literally all the time.
M2X
21st November 2024, 11:59
He will have had to do damage control after his “Not talent, just luck” quote post Brazil, which ofcourse was about the red flag situation and said at a moment he was completely distraught.
His taunting after the Zandvoort win on the radio, however, showed Lando’s less charming side, even if that could be taken tongue in cheek. It does show an inkling that Lando becomes hateful when his emotions are high.
Carl Parker (@mysticarl)
21st November 2024, 10:04
I feel like he overdrives sometimes still, a bit like Leclerc did when he was less experienced. Super fast especially on one lap pace but less able to do it over a race without mistakes. That may improve over time.
I think generally people have over-played McLaren’s pace. For the initial races McLaren were much further behind RB than RB were behind when McLaren were faster. Also RB had less overall competition in the early races whereas Merc initially and Ferrari lately have also joined the party.
If there was a time McLaren lost the drivers title it was in the first few races, not recently.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2024, 10:39
The early-season phase is indeed where they truly lost, given the points gap after the Chinese GP.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd November 2024, 2:01
While that is true about the early season, it’s undeniable that norris has been unable to recover basically any significant points when the car was significantly better, that’s not how you win a title.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st November 2024, 10:40
The championship has been out of his control for a while rather than only since the last race & he would’ve won the Miami GP even without the SC error, but otherwise, I like his honesty in assessing his chances over the entire season.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd November 2024, 2:02
Agree about miami, the SC error was really silly, but norris’ pace in the final stint was incredible.
Philip (@philipgb)
21st November 2024, 10:47
Norris is a very talented driver. He definitely has flashes of brilliance in both qualifying and race craft, and he does all that while being a very clean driver. What he’s demonstrated a lack of this season is the ability to step up, remain consistent and not choke when there’s a championship on the line
I think this marks the difference between Norris and drivers like Verstappen, Hamilton and Alonso. Verstappen doesn’t drop performance when things get desperate, it becomes willing to cross the line in terms of keeping it clean but he never seems to waiver in performance level. Hamilton seems to get fuelled by the pressure, over the years he seems to find his best form when the pressure is on and he’s either chasing or defending a championship. Then there’s Alonso who come rain or shine is typically just on his best form
Talent often isn’t enough. We saw with Rosberg that after 3 years of being in championship contention he was done. Norris has now found himself with the machinery to win a championship, can clearly drive it fast enough to do so, but needs to work on the psychological side of enduring a season long battle
Leo B
21st November 2024, 11:32
F1 is tough and exacting. Every driver “can be a champion” in theory. The trick is to achieve it, that’s the hard part, and Norris has to accept he failed. But he is, at least, one of the elite drivers at the top of the mountain.
Ideals (@ideals)
21st November 2024, 14:12
I don’t think every driver can be a champion, the only way for that to be true is if there’s somehow a team that’s 3 seconds ahead of everyone else but even then between the two drivers it’s unlikely to be both of them becoming champion, so one of them will still be the guy that never becomes champion.
I think any driver capable of winning races (and not the one-race-wonder’s, but the multiple race-winners) can become champion if the circumstances go their way. I think Jenson Button is a good example of this. And I suspect Lando falls into that category, so who knows, maybe in some future season he’ll get there.
José Lopes da Silva
21st November 2024, 14:24
In the end you’ll realize that pretty much 75% of the drivers could be champions under those circumstances. Not every, but perhaps 15 out of 20. Of course, it depends a lot on who is your team mate.
I don’t doubt that if you gave a car 3 seconds ahead of everyone else to Mick Schumacher and giving him Nikita Mazepin has is team mate, he would be champion. But, all in all, that is not argument to hire him, let alone considering him as “champion material”.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd November 2024, 2:07
A car 1 sec faster than any other car should be enough, he was closing in on magnussen in performance by the end of the season, and he had only 1 year with a decent car, there’s no saying he wouldn’t have done better with a 2nd serious season.
Same goes for stroll though, there’s people who were afraid he would become champion now that newey is going to aston, but the car needs to be really dominant to beat someone like verstappen on the 2nd best car, even if they pull some trick like replacing alonso mid season.
Stephen Taylor
21st November 2024, 11:34
As a Lando fan it comes across as though Norris doesn’t really believe he can challenge the top guys and that is just sad . I think if Lando put his mind to it and believed in himself he might turn the corner and he might do it . Lando needs to work with a sports psychologist and have a really quiet but focused pre-season training camp this winter and toughen himself up mentally and physically . Lando needs to grind out during pre-season hard and get himself into the best physical and mental shape he’s ever been then be prepared to grind it out during the season next year if he is going to reach the top of the top. If he doesn’t step up his best chance will have come and gone
SPArtacus
22nd November 2024, 2:38
Agreed. He seems to be in a negative thinking spiral. And that’s not fun to see any driver go through. It’s sad because he had that confidence going into this season, but has lost it. He has the talent. He needs to take a page out of Nico’s playbook going into the 2016 season (he talked about how extensively he prepared mentally, physically, even politically, etc. for that season). And he definitely shouldn’t be reading criticism online of himself. That’d destroy almost anyone.
-Your buddy, Cawl.
Coventry Climax
21st November 2024, 13:39
Oh my. Are we calling these sprint small prix deceptions ‘Grand Prix’ now? That’s sad and very depressing.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
21st November 2024, 16:05
There is no sprint this weekend. The grand prix is on Saturday evening (Vegas time).
José Lopes da Silva
21st November 2024, 14:21
He can be a champion the same way Damon Hill was a champion in 1996.
Edvaldo
21st November 2024, 17:14
If there’s one thing this season did NOT show, it’s that.
How’s it even possible that a guy driving the fastest can only win three races? One was due to a timely and lucky Safety Car that delayed second-place driver Max, not him, and allowed him to make an essentially free pit stop to win the race from the lead on newer tyres. The other two were the two of the three largest superiorities they had all season.
He needs to bounce back ASAP because McLaren may begin losing interest in him as a WDC material if he keeps blowing leads every other race.
David (@nvherman)
21st November 2024, 17:52
I realise that you don’t rate Norris, but he’s still significantly faster than Piastri, no matter what the armchair critics on here think.
Edvaldo
21st November 2024, 19:06
Not even slightly. He’s much faster than Piastri. But somehow he always manages to make it a tough fight when it should be a walk in the park.
SPArtacus
22nd November 2024, 2:46
It’s odd that some are still clinging this to “Piastri rising” narrative. I’ve rarely seen a teammate so thoroughly beaten by a teammate retain the confidence of so many. The quali and race head-to-head is like 18-3 + 16-5 or something similarly lopsided. In other words, while I typically think Ed usually has very sound opinions, when it comes to this, he and many others are living in a different universe.
David (@nvherman)
22nd November 2024, 8:19
Totally agree