“The Championship wasn’t lost in Brazil”: F1 Insider explains what cost Lando Norris the title against Max Verstappen

With three races to go in the 2024 Formula 1 season, the difference between championship leader Max Verstappen and title-contender Lando Norris is 62 points. F1 pundit Karun Chandhok highlighted what cost the McLaren driver his maiden driver's title during a recent Sky F1 podcast.

In his sixth F1 season with the Papaya Orange squad from Woking, UK, Lando Norris has become a top championship contender. The 24-year-old Briton began challenging Verstappen from Miami Grand Prix, with the help of a heavily-upgraded MCL38 race car.

Despite having a better car than his Red Bull rival, bad strategy calls in a few races affected Norris' chase for his first-ever driver's title. Further adding to his woes was the disappointing result in the rain-soaked Brazilian Grand Prix weekend.

However, F1 pundit Chandhok shared a different theory on what cost Lando Norris his maiden title. The former F1 driver-turned-analyst spoke about the same during the recent Sky F1 podcast. He said (as quoted by PlanetF1):

"I don’t think they could put that down to bad luck, honestly, on the Sunday. Okay the red flag but if he had the same pace as Verstappen, he would have passed the Alpines and passed George. And frankly, if he had the same pace as Verstappen, he would have passed George in the first stint after losing the start. But we saw him go off the road, I think two or three different times. At the end, they didn’t have the pace to fight against his championship rival," Chandhok said.

"The championship battle wasn’t lost on Sunday in Brazil, it was lost in the first five races. If you rewind the clock to the opening five races of the season, that’s where Verstappen really got this big advantage, very reminiscent of what we’ve seen from Jenson Button back in 2009," he added.

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"He’s under pressure" - Lando Norris on putting pressure on Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing in the 2024 F1 season

McLaren's star driver Lando Norris has been consistent throughout the 2024 F1 season, allowing him to close the gap between him and championship leader Max Verstappen. During a pre-race interview in Sao Paulo with F1 pundit Will Buxton, the Briton spoke about how he and McLaren managed to put pressure on the Dutchman and Red Bull Racing.

"It’s a compliment, that’s for sure. But he’s doing what he believes is best, which is fair dos. It might not always be the right thing, but we always do what we believe is right and we always do what we believe is the best at that time. He’s doing what he has to try and keep me behind him in the championship because he’s under pressure, Red Bull’s under pressure, they’re not delivering," Lando Norris said.

Reflecting on Max Verstappen's aggressive driving in Austin and Mexico, Lando added:

"We as a team have overtaken them, Ferrari have overtaken them. They’re doing their best, we’re doing our best, and the more pressure we can put them under the more of these kinds of mistakes they’ll probably do," he added.

As of now, Norris is placed second in the 2024 driver's table, while McLaren is leading the constructor's championship.