Can Max Verstappen be challenged for the title this season? Lando Norris gives his take

Lando Norris believes it will be difficult to beat Max Verstappen in the 2024 championship but felt McLaren could capitalize on Red Bull’s down days. Speaking to onsite media in Barcelona, the British driver felt that the Dutch champion rarely makes errors or has any weaknesses.

With Red Bull’s performance swinging up and down in the last few race weekends, McLaren and Ferrari have managed to capitalize on points. However, the Dutchman and his team surged back in the Canadian GP which helped them extend their lead.

Given the performance of both McLaren and Ferrari in the last few races, the latter seems to be the more realistic contender for both titles. Lando Norris would have been well-positioned in the championship had he won in Montreal. Unfortunately, both McLaren and the Briton were outsmarted by the reigning champions in tire strategy and pitstops.

When asked if Verstappen could be challenged in the championship, Lando Norris felt it was difficult. After the Canadian GP, Mercedes joined the mix at the front, making it a difficult scenario. However, the Briton felt it would be important for himself and McLaren to capitalize on Red Bull and the Dutchman’s bad days. He felt there were rare days when the reigning champion made errors or had a significant weakness.

Asked if Verstappen could be challenged for the championship in 2024, Lando Norris said:

“I think it's tough but there's probably more more chances and possibilities now, especially if Mercedes are in the fight. More chance to kind of have a bigger swing of points, rather than you know a bad weekend for Max was third or fourth or something. It could be that it’s a fifth or a sixth and if you can be that one guy that wins within one weekend you can turn quite a bit of points around fairly quickly. So if it goes like that then I'll say there's a higher chance. I think what Max is always going to, his bad weekends are never going to be a bad weekend. You know he’s still going to get a good amount of points.”

“He's just strong in all areas. So, you know, he's right that he makes mistakes. He's right that he messes up qualifying is that kind of thing. But with more pressure now, you never know like how that changes and always with pressures, it's always easier to make mistakes. So, we see I think it's tough because yeah, you can't doubt Max in any area. He doesn't have a weakness outright. It's possible, but it's going to need a very good car performance, a very consistent performance throughout the whole season. As you've seen, they've been a little bit more up and down than what we have. So we just need to capitalise on when they're down and try and be the one car that's at the front and on the up.”

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Lando Norris expects Red Bull and Ferrari to be strong again in Spain

Lando Norris believes Ferrari and Red Bull could be back to the front in Spain and at the other circuits in the triple header. He felt that McLaren did not have a particular area where they were strong and were more of an all-rounder compared to their rivals. The 24-year-old believes that henceforth it will be a close battle between all the front runners. He felt so far most of the circuits suited McLaren and was confident going forward into the triple header.

With the grid converging in terms of performance, Lando Norris believes a tiny error can make a small difference in lap time but cost many grid positions. The loss of grid positions can further jeopardize the race results at tracks where qualifying plays a crucial role.

Asked if the next three circuits in the triple header suited McLaren and what he expected, Lando Norris replied:

“I mean we've been good at all of them so far. So I don't expect things to probably change too much. I just expect it to be close between Ferrari, Red Bull probably a bit more back to where they should be. Ferrari, after last weekend more back to where they should be. I think we've been the most consistently just there team. We've not been like the team which has suddenly been quickest and easily dominating a weekend, like we've seen Red Bull do or Ferrari do. So we've not had that absolute strength in certain places. But we've just been a very good all -rounder so far, which over a course of a season is exactly what we want and is a good strength from where we were last year, where we're very up and down.”

Further elaborating on McLaren's chances of being competitive at the next few circuits, Lando Norris said:

“But at no point, I would say like we've been the outright absolute best through a whole weekend. So that's something we still need to work on and we still need to work to have a quicker car. But yeah with Mercedes and stuff joining like and how close it was already in Canada, where your 1 /10th better or not. That’s easily because your tyres are in the right window or you make a small mistake or the setup's not perfect, like half a tenth, one tenth and you're three, four, five positions back. So I think it's just going to be a close fight between everyone. But the main thing is we've been good everywhere so far. So I think we have good confidence that we just keep doing what we're doing.”

Lando Norris is currently third in the drivers championship, trailing Charles Leclerc by seven points and Max Verstappen by 63 points. McLaren is third in the championship, trailing Ferrari by 40 points and Red Bull by 89 points. However, Red Bull’s weaknesses being exposed in Monaco and Spain have created hope for their rivals.

In the next three circuits, Spain remains the only one where the Milton Keynes squad could have an edge. But they could be closely challenged in Austria and Silverstone by both Ferrari and McLaren.