Lando Norris insists on being at certain level to fight against a ‘driver like Max Verstappen’

Lando Norris has so far managed to amass 199 points in the 2024 driver's championship.


Lando Norris insists on being at certain level to fight against a ‘driver like Max Verstappen’

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)

Lando Norris has been on an impressive run during the 2024 F1 season. After 14 rounds, he is only 78 points behind Max Verstappen in the driver’s standings, and ahead of the upcoming Dutch GP race weekend, he has talked about what he needs to do to fight against his rival.

The reigning world champion has not had the smoothest of campaigns this year but has managed to put seven wins on board. Whereas Lando Norris on his end, has suffered from his own shortcomings during crunch moments of certain races.

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Norris has so far managed only a single race win in the ongoing season and as a result, is well aware of how he needs to proceed in the remaining 10 races.

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I'm fighting for a championship. I’m not going to be happy if I'm not performing at the level that I need to do to beat Max, Red Bull and other drivers that I need to be beating. 
Lando Norris via Racingnews365

The Brit further went on to add the following:

I'm still very happy with how the season has gone, but [there have been] just one too many mistakes and a few too many points given away, which is not the level I need to be at if I want to fight for a championship and fight against a driver like Max.
Lando Norris via the same interview

The 24-year-old has emphasized not repeating the kind of mistakes he made during the first half of the season. Norris’s improper decision-making has cost him and McLaren quite a few points in the battle in both the championships against Verstappen and Red Bull.

Lando Norris feels strong moments have been ‘overshadowed by bad starts’

While Lando Norris has talked about being at a specific level to fight against Max Verstappen, he has also emphasized improving his starts off the line. In the last few races, the former was caught out quite a few times when the lights went out.

George Russell and Lando Norris
George Russell and Lando Norris (Via: Imago)

As a consequence of this, he feels his strong moments in the first half were overshadowed.

There are still so many strong things but always overshadowed by having a bad start, or a bad Turn 1 or being a bit safe at times, trying to stay out of trouble.
Lando Norris via the same interview

The 2024 F1 season has only 10 Grand Prix remaining on the calendar. Keeping this in view, Norris can’t afford any more slip-ups from Zandvoort onwards. The Dutch GP is the home race of Verstappen, if the former is somehow able to topple him in front of his home crowd, it will put out a statement of intent from Norris for the rest of the campaign.

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