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Lando Norris admits he ‘wasn’t ready’ to fight Max Verstappen for F1 title | F1

Pabio November 21, 2024

Lando Norris admitted he wasn’t “quite ready” to face Max Verstappen for the F1 title at the start of the season.

After a slow start to the year, Norris found himself as Verstappen’s closest challenger midway through the season.

After the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, the gap between the two men was only 52 points.

Since then, as McLaren has taken the lead over Red Bull, Verstappen has extended his lead to 62 points and is on the brink of the F1 title.

Verstappen can win this year’s title if he finishes ahead of Norris at this weekend’s F1 Grand Prix in Las Vegas.

Reflecting on this season, Norris said at the FIA pre-race press conference: “Yes, I think approaching a season with the mentality of trying to win it, it’s a state of affairs. very different spirit from the one we had this year. It’s been a different story all season long.

“We started miles off the pace. We started third, fourth, best team at the beginning of the year. We have been for a long time. Red Bull was extremely dominant, more dominant than any other team for the rest of the year. We were extremely fast and probably among the fastest for the most part. But when we were, the margin was much smaller. So creating the differences that they were able to create at the start of the year is almost impossible.

“I feel like I still did a really good job, but it’s clear… One thing you’ll always get from me is honesty about whether I did a good job, a bad job or whether we as a team have done a good or bad job and I will be honest with what I say. I think there were a lot of races, there were a few where we didn’t reach the level that we needed to do, as a team. Silverstone, for example, is one where we probably should have had a 1-2. And we couldn’t have finished further from a 1-2.

While Norris believes he was not ready to face Verstappen at the start of the season, the 25-year-old believes he is now getting closer to the level required to take on the Red Bull driver.

“There are times when as a team we have not performed to the level we needed to as a world championship winning team, but there have also been many times where I have not “I haven’t performed at the level I need to perform to win a championship,” Norris added.

“I probably wasn’t quite ready to face Red Bull and Max. I think I am now, and it’s probably too late to do it.

Norris acknowledged the challenge of taking on a driver of Verstappen’s caliber, hailing him as “one of the best Formula 1 drivers of all time”.

“Maybe there were other drivers in the past who were ready for such an opportunity,” he explained. “But no one has faced Max this early in their career, mid-season, and put up, I think, a pretty reasonable fight. I mean, I’m here, but no one else is, you know? So I did my best. I didn’t do well enough.

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Lando Norris admits he ‘wasn’t ready’ to fight Max Verstappen for F1 title | F1

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Lando Norris admits he ‘wasn’t ready’ to fight Max Verstappen for F1 title | F1

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