“Max simply has no weakness”: Lando Norris congratulates Max Verstappen after his title win in Las Vegas

Lando Norris paid tribute to Max Verstappen after the Dutchman clinched his fourth consecutive world title at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Norris needed to finish ahead of Max Verstappen by at least three points to keep his title hopes alive.

Neither Verstappen nor Norris showed top pace during the weekend, but the Dutch driver finished fifth, while the British driver ended up in a distant sixth place, thus replicating their starting positions. However, the McLaren driver set the fastest lap of the race, adding a bonus point to his score.

Thanks to this result, Max Verstappen secured the 2024 championship, before the two remaining races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Realistic assessment of the season

« Congratulations to Max. I am disappointed to be out of the race, but Max deserved to win », declares Norris. « He had a better season than me, he deserved it more than anyone else. Max simply has no weaknesses. »

« When he has the best car, he dominates, and when he doesn’t, he is always there, always present to make life difficult and complicated.

« He had an amazing season, nothing to blame him for. This weekend has been disastrous for us, we couldn’t even fight against Max, which I would have loved to do today, but congratulations to him for what he has accomplished, » he continues.

The gap between McLaren and Ferrari is narrowing.

Lando Norris, who set the fastest lap in the race to earn a bonus point, was followed by his teammate Oscar Piastri, allowing McLaren to limit the damage during a difficult weekend. However, McLaren’s lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship has decreased from 36 to 24 points.

« I think we extracted everything we could today, every point will count at the end of the season as Ferrari is in great shape », explained Norris.

« I hope that this weekend is just an anomaly for us and that we will find a more usual rhythm in the next races. I don’t think that our usual pace is necessarily the fastest, I would say it’s between us, Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull. No one knows who will be ahead next weekend or the one after that.

« It’s exciting for you, stressful for us, and it’s complicating my life behind the wheel! But we will keep fighting, we have to. The battle for the constructors’ championship is still very much alive, I believe we can still make it, but it won’t be easy.