Lando Norris: “Max Verstappen nearly won the championship”
While there is still a tiny glimmer of hope for Lando Norris to keep his chances of winning the drivers' championship, he seems very pessimistic but hopes to do his best during the race on Sunday.
Lando Norris will start 6th in the Las Vegas race this Sunday morning. The McLaren driver still has a chance to win the title, with three races left in the season. To do this, he still needs to score three points more than Max Verstappen in this Grand Prix. There are several possible scenarios. For example, he must finish at least 8th if Max Verstappen scores no points. If Max Verstappen scores points, Lando Norris must therefore gain at least two positions to have a chance to still fight for the title in the next Grand Prix.
Read also: How can Verstappen win the title in Vegas?
However, with the poor handling of the McLaren this weekend in Vegas, Lando Norris no longer believes in it. “We are struggling too much with the car, it gives us too many difficulties to drive,” explained the British driver after the qualifying session. “There is very little grip here and it makes the car too difficult to drive. It helps some, like Alpine with Pierre [Gasly] or others like Haas, but we [McLaren] can’t make it work.”
« Max almost won the championship »
McLaren is indeed battling with its two cars this weekend in particularly cool conditions on the American west coast. During the end of the qualifying, in Q3, the air temperature was only 10 degrees and the track temperature was 11 degrees. The McLaren is handling the high temperatures well, but neither of the two drivers from the team found the secret this weekend. Oscar Piastri, on his side, set the 8th fastest time.
Pessimism
For Lando Norris, with this result and McLaren’s underperformance, it will be difficult to create a gap with the Red Bull driver. Lando Norris had nevertheless taken 5 pole positions in the last 7 Grand Prix. However, he remains very pessimistic.
Max has almost won the championship. I don’t care if it’s Max [who is ahead of me], what I want is to gain as many positions as possible, but I will do everything I can. Lando Norris concludes.
While the two drivers still fighting for the title promise us another great battle for the start of the Las Vegas Grand Prix this Sunday morning, it must be remembered that starts are not Lando Norris’ strong point. The McLaren driver has consistently lost positions when starting from pole position in these past races.
