“Lando Norris is more than 50 points behind” - Red Bull chief unbothered about McLaren’s threat to Max Verstappen’s championship

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has ruled out F1's newest race winner Lando Norris as a potential threat to Max Verstappen's fourth title bid this season. His comments came after McLaren and Norris made waves in Miami.

The Woking-based outfit brought a raft of upgrades for the MCL38 ahead of the Miami GP. The upgrades transformed the car from podium contender to being the fastest on the track, as Norris capitalized by winning the race with a lead of seven seconds over second-place finisher Verstappen.

Helmut Marko, director of Red Bull Racing, is not worried about Lando Norris and McLaren challenging for the title, as he suggested the points difference between Norris and Verstappen is too big. The 81-year-old Austrian also expressed optimism about the upgrades the team plans to introduce at Imola.

In a recent interview with the Austrian publication OE24, Marko was asked if Verstappen's title bid was under threat, to which he replied:

"No, I'm not worried, Norris is over 50 points behind. We are also bringing an upgrade to Imola that I expect a lot from. But Miami shows that we have to concentrate on sports."

Max Verstappen currently leads the drivers championship with 136 points, followed by teammate Sergio Perez with 103 points. Charles Leclerc sits third with 98 points. Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz round off the top five in the standings, tied for 83 points.

The Emilia Romagna GP, scheduled for May 17-19, has plenty of anticipation as Ferrari will introduce a major upgrade package for their home race. Meanwhile, Red Bull is gearing up to introduce upgrades of their own, while both McLaren drivers will have the full set of upgrades for the event.

With the race weekend in Italy fast approaching, there is plenty of speculation if the race will be a three-way fight, or whether Red Bull and Max Verstappen will resume normal service and check out with another dominant victory.

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Lando Norris confident of winning multiple races this season

Meanwhile, Norris is optimistic about adding more wins to his tally, as he believes McLaren can compete with Red Bull and Ferrari. He also acknowledged that they are not yet at the level of competing for wins on a weekly basis.

Speaking to Sky Sports in a recent interview at the McLaren Technology Center, Lando Norris said:

"Absolutely, we can win more races this year. I think we can compete against Red Bull. I think we're looking at an exciting season between us, Red Bull and Ferrari. I think we still have work to do and we're not at the level that they are just yet."

Heading to Imola, Lando Norris has racked up a race win, a P2 finish, and a P3 finish in the first six rounds of the season.