The gap between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen increases as Norris makes more mistakes that cost him wins.
Lando Norris is one of the protagonists of the 2024 Formula 1 season, being one of the seven winners who walked to the podium. Not only that, but McLaren, since the upgrades, is getting closer to Red Bull, challenging the World Champions. A breath of fresh air after the 2023 season.
However, after his first win ever in F1 at the Miami Grand Prix, Lando Norris seems incapable of replicating it. The trophy is always there, but just out of reach for him.
Battled hard all weekend! 👏
We’ll still continue to fight. 👊#BelgianGP 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/CwmspAAFGG
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 28, 2024
Too many mistakes, too many chances lost
After the win in Florida, McLaren was always close to Red Bull. Both in Qualifying and during the races, Norris was always close to Max Verstappen. He quickly became one of the favourites for wins. Yet, despite having the chances, he didn’t turn those opportunities into a trophy.
The McLaren driver made many errors on the track, mainly at the start. An example of that is the Spanish GP, where while focusing on Verstappen, he didn’t defend George Russell. Or in Spa, where Norris qualified fourth and was expected to be in the fight for the podium. But he went wide at the first corner, while George Russell and Carlos Sainz gained a position.
After a tough DQ for George, both drivers are promoted in the final standings. 💪#BelgianGP 🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/dPXpScQNwn
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 28, 2024
Then came the Hungarian Grand Prix, the first win of which was won by his teammate Oscar Piastri. Again, Norris couldn’t capitalise his pole position. At the start, Piastri was able to take the lead from him. After the pit, when car number 4 was leading again, McLaren had to intervene to swap the cars. The team radios where they asked Norris to let Piastri pass and him doing it with only three laps to go have received a great deal of criticism.
After Miami, Lando Norris collected only 116 points against the 141 points for Verstappen and 126 points for Piastri.
Self-critical
After the Belgian Grand Prix, Lando talked with the media about his last few races:
“I lost many points during the last three or four races because of stupid mistakes, bad starts and things like today in the first corners. I don’t know why it happened. It’s not even hard. While trying to stay out of troubles, to be sure to have a gap, I pushed myself out of the track.” – Lando Norris to Sky Sport.
He also said that the rhythm was good and that the team was doing an incredible job. He took responsibility for his results and his mistakes. The hope is to continue the positive streak of good races for McLaren after the break:
“I should have been more aggressive. In the last two or three races I didn’t start in the way I should have and I’ve lost many points. I hope to come back stronger [after the summer break].” – Lando Norris to Sky Sport.
