LAS VEGAS — It may be the start of the final tripleheader of the season, the stint kicking off with Formula One cars zipping down the Strip, but all eyes aren’t on the glitzy and glamorous show like in the Las Vegas Grand Prix’s 2023 debut. A driver championship battle could be decided in Las Vegas come Saturday night.
Lando Norris sat in the FIA news conference Wednesday evening, fielding question after question about the title fight. And the McLaren driver seems to have come to terms with the fact Max Verstappen could wrap up a fourth consecutive world championship as soon as Saturday.
“I kind of know the position I’m in now, and probably I have less to lose now,” Norris said. “You know, the gap to Max is … for the first time, probably when I’ve looked at the gap myself and had the realization of where things stand,” Norris said, “and I think post-Brazil was a tough one for me because it was the first moment realistically when I’m like it’s tough to achieve first position now.
“We were on such a good run of form, little by little, you know, it’s hard to get any big points on Max, because he didn’t have any bad races, but I had a tough week because things just didn’t go our way, and my kind of real fight for the championship was slimmed by the biggest margin of almost of the whole year.”
Verstappen leads the driver standings with 393 points, 62 points ahead of Norris with three races and a sprint to go before the checkered flag falls on the 2024 season. All the Dutchman needs to do is finish ahead of the Briton to seal the title. Norris said that his approach won’t change heading into this weekend, adding that “my approach has been correct.” But when looking ahead to Saturday night, “So from my side, I need to not change anything, but I think I can probably just go out and enjoy a little bit more.”
It’s been the closest world championship battle F1 has seen since Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton went head-to-head in 2021. Since then, the Red Bull driver has won two more titles largely unchallenged. On Wednesday evening, Norris called Verstappen’s win in São Paulo two weeks ago “a defining moment” in this year’s battle. Verstappen won the race by more than 19 seconds, while the McLaren driver finished sixth after an unlucky day.
“For a week I was pretty down after Brazil because I had that realization that things are pretty much out of my control now, not within reach necessarily,” Norris said. “That’s a tough realization when your hopes and your belief is so high for it to get knocked down so much all of a sudden was pretty demoralizing and not the best of feelings. You learn to accept that. That’s life.”
It’s not been a clean season for Norris by any means. Sure, he won his first F1 race in Miami and has bagged two more victories, multiple podium finishes and several pole positions since then. But mistakes have been made, whether on his side or McLaren’s.
“I definitely was not at the level I needed to be at the beginning of the year and even Miami point of the season. Since the summer break, I feel like I’ve done a very good job and performed very, very well, by far some of my best performances that I’ve done,” Norris said. “So I’ve been very happy, actually, with how the last few months have gone, honestly. I wouldn’t change many things that have happened. But I still need to make tweaks. I still need to improve on things. That’s clear. You know, I’m not completely satisfied with how I’ve done. I definitely know I need to make improvements.”
But the biggest lesson he’s learned through these ups and downs and battles is that he has what it takes to be a world championship contender.
“For the first time, I’m confident to say that I have what I think I need to fight for a championship. Doesn’t mean I’m complete, doesn’t mean I’m perfect, that’s for sure,” the 25-year-old said. “And when you’re competing against drivers who are close to that, like Max, you have to be close to perfect if you want to challenge him, you know, and challenge the teams we’re around.
“So I’m confident and I think the main thing I can take away is I have faith that I have got what it takes to fight for a championship.”
The championship is still up for grabs, and Norris is not saying it is over. There is still a chance the McLaren driver can catch Verstappen or at least push the fight to Qatar (which is a sprint race weekend). He’ll need to outscore the Dutchman by three points in Las Vegas, though, for the battle to be extended.
“I won’t say it’s over until it is, but you know it’s very far out of reach at the minute, and we’ve been performing well, but I need a lot of luck if anything, if I can,” he continued when asked whether this was “check” like in a chess game, “and It’s pretty much like I’ve got to win three races and Max has to not finish three races in a way. So, yeah, it’s check. And I’m all alone. And Max has all his pawns ready to attack me.
“But that’s probably all I know.”
Top photo of Lando Norris: Clive Rose/Getty Images
