Lando Norris believes his last two Formula One races demonstrate his ability to compete with Max Verstappen for the F1 drivers’ championship.
Despite having the fastest vehicle on Sunday, the Briton was disappointed that he was unable to achieve his second victory of the season. Verstappen, aided by Red Bull’s savvy pit-stop strategy, was able to hold off a late attack from the McLaren star, increasing his championship lead to 63 points.
However, Norris’ pride and belief in pursuing the drivers’ championship remain intact. Despite losing ground to the Dutchman, the 24-year-old responded directly to the written press in Barcelona, including Total-Motorsport.com, when asked if he could win the title: “I think so.”Norris continued, “I should have performed better in the race, or we should have gotten some points back on Max. There was a chance to beat him in Canada; I finished second in two races and he won, so Max needs to stop winning in order to achieve that [winning the title].
“Even though I climbed up to second place in the championship, it makes no difference. I didn’t care if I was second or tenth. It’s more about the gap to what Max is, and he’s still widening it at the moment, which is something we can’t afford to do or allow him to run away with it at this point in the season.”If I had made better decisions in Canada and gotten out to a better start today, we may have won two races. I know there are a lot of’shoulda, woulda, couldas’, as there always have been, but we have what it takes. “It’s just about putting everything together.”
Norris was left to repent his sluggish start in Barcelona after experiencing wheelspin off the line from pole position, allowing Verstappen to past him early on, dropping him to third. While admitting that such blunders could cost them, Norris remained optimistic that McLaren has the fastest pace to compete on most courses.
“Max is not making any mistakes, so I believe that if you make one small mistake, they [Red Bull] will be ahead.” I believe they had a slightly faster automobile yesterday, based on my observations. “I could be wrong,” Norris said.
“Today we had the faster automobile. Obviously, someone has to finish second, so it’s all about the little things right now, but each circuit is different, as we saw Red Bull struggle a little more than three races ago.”I believe we’re still showing to be one of the most consistent teams at every track we’ve visited. Mercedes was the fastest last weekend in Canada and is now just behind here. It’s a little up and down, but I believe we should just keep doing what we’re doing because it’s good enough for the time being. We’re just attempting to eliminate a few of those minor faults.”
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