Lando Norris hits back at Max Verstappen’s claims of winning 2024 title with McLaren

Lando Norris dismissed Max Verstappen's claims of winning the 2024 F1 world championship driving a McLaren.

Lando Norris hits back at Max Verstappen’s claims of winning 2024 title with McLaren

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)

After winning the 2024 drivers’ title, Max Verstappen went on to take a dig at his critics and even got Lando Norris in the firing range. He asserted that he would have won the drivers’ championship even while driving the McLaren MCL38, referring to Norris bottling his chance of winning his maiden championship despite having capable machinery.

However, such claims did not go well with the Brit, Lando Norris denied Max Verstappen‘s comments and reflected on how a big deficit had never been overturned in the history of the sport. For the record, the largest comeback in F1 history was made by Sebastian Vettel in the 2012 season, he overturned a 39-point deficit to Fernando Alonso with only seven races remaining.

YouTube video

On the other hand, Norris’ deficit to the Dutchman consistently remained over 50 points throughout the second half of the season, with the number dipping below 50 on one occasion. This led the 25-year-old to deem Verstappen’s claim as impossible while taking the help of the history books.

No, definitely not. I mean, no one ever in the history of Formula One has come back from the size of deficit I had.

Lando Norris said in an interview with The Telegraph

However, on multiple incidents, the McLaren driver had lost out on maximizing his results when having the fastest car on merit. This would have aided him reduce his deficit down to the vicinity of a few dozen points, which would have extended the title charge probably to the last round in Abu Dhabi.

Lando Norris sets sights on last two rounds to bag constructors’ championship

With the drivers’ championship now out of reach, the Woking-based outfit would return to treating their drivers equally and focusing on maximizing their results in the constructors’ championship. This would be essential as Ferrari have been sneakily denting their lead in the standings with each passing round.

McLaren's Lando Norris (via IMAGO)
Lando Norris (via IMAGO)

With only 24 points now separating the two old rivals, Norris has switched his focus to securing the constructors’ title for the team.

We’ll now turn our attention to next weekend and coming back stronger in Qatar, a circuit that should suit our car better than Vegas. All our focus is on these last two races.

Lando Norris said (via McLaren)

On the other hand, with Qatar and Abu Dhabi possibly suiting the papaya cars more than their championship rivals, McLaren could bag their first constructors’ title since 1998. However, the Scuderia have not lost all faith in winning the championship and have a hoard of floor upgrades for the SF-24 that could escalate them to become a challenger in the final two rounds.