For Norris, playing the title against Verstappen is completely possible
After his victory in Singapore, Lando Norris closed the gap to Max Verstappen to 52 points and considered it quite possible to catch up with the Dutchman in this year's end to compete for the drivers' championship.
Confidence is high for Lando Norris. Winner after leading throughout the race in Singapore, the British driver has taken back seven points from Max Verstappen on the Marina Bay circuit. He is now only 52 points behind the Dutchman with six Grand Prix remaining in the season, including three with sprint races (United States, Brazil, and Qatar). Norris will need to score 8.66 points per weekend to catch up with the Red Bull driver.
Read also: Singapore GP: Norris imperial in the city-state, Verstappen reassures
A mission that proves delicate but not impossible considering the recent form of both drivers and their cars. After Singapore, Lando Norris declared to Sky Sports: “We are working hard and if I continue to do what I did this weekend, then it is entirely possible.” The British driver hopes that the title battle will be decided at the wire. “I am giving my all to try to make it happen.” [Verstappen] is trying to prevent it from happening. We will have to wait to find out what happens.
The margin is slim for Norris.
The British driver will therefore have to scrape weekend after weekend and hope that his MCL38 holds out until the Emirati epilogue (December 6-8). « We executed things perfectly as a team [in Singapore], especially to bring Oscar to P3 […] But we have to do it at every race until the end of the year if I want to have a chance to catch up with Max », concedes the 24-year-old driver.
Number 4 of the Papayas remains measured in the face of the challenge that awaits him. The gap separating him from his opponent is still significant: “I still have a lot of points to catch up on and it won’t be easy to do so”. Especially, facing him, Max Verstappen and Red Bull stand as the triple world champion driver and double reigning constructors’ champion. “It’s against Red Bull and against Max, the most dominant duo we have seen in Formula 1 in recent years […] It’s the same team and the same driver. So, I have one of the toughest competitions Formula 1 has ever seen.”
Verstappen keeps his fate in his own hands
Andrea Stella, Team Principal of the Oranges, admits it, Max Verstappen is still in control of his own destiny: The driver’s title is certainly not in our hands because it’s always in Max’s hands. The team leader remains confident for the end of the season, believing that his team can be encouraged and even more optimistic after Norris’ clear victory in the city-state.
To put Norris on top of the world, McLaren does not have many options: finishing ahead at every race hoping that some drivers will come between the Briton and the Dutchman. We have to acknowledge that if we maximize the car’s potential now, by finishing with two cars ahead of Max, it’s possible. This is what makes us optimistic. Norris and his team have four weeks ahead of them to prepare for the US GP and keep believing.
