The 70-point gap between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen has now reduced to 62 and the fight for the championship is still ablaze.
There is a huge points gap between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. However, the McLaren drivers have been chasing Verstappen hard for his first World Championship in Formula One. Last weekend, Lando Norris had a commanding lead over Max Verstappen, standing at a whopping 22.896 seconds.
Lando Norris was behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ standings by 70 points, heading into the Italian Grand Prix, where he started from pole position in Monza. But the math is starting to favour the young British driver. He is chasing down the three-time world champion, now only 62 points behind.
As the chequered flag fell on the Italian Grand Prix in Monza and Charles Leclerc won Ferrari’s home race, McLaren secured a double podium. Norris is now with 241 points on the Drivers’ standing.
Can Norris Bridge the Gap to Verstappen in the Final Stretch?
Norris’s victory in the Dutch Grand Prix was the largest margin of victory of the season so far. By completing the fastest lap of the race, Norris was able to cut his championship deficit to Verstappen’s by eight points. Between them, there are “only’ 62 points. This will be something of an obstacle to cross in the next eight races of the championship fight.
The 62-point gap is something that is mathematically possible but Norris “needs” from his teammate’s – Oscar Piastri – support. He also needs perfect strategy from the pit wall for the next eight races. If Verstappen places second in every race remaining on the racing schedule, Norris might win every one of the eight races left, including the final three sprints, and still not have enough. In the event that neither driver records the fastest lap, Norris would finish with 474 points, four fewer than Verstappen.
What’s next after the Italian Grand Prix?
Now with the Italian Grand Prix done and dusted, the points between Norris and Verstappen are now only sixty-two points (Norris-241, Verstappen-303). This might look like a large gap but mathematically it is possible. But it’s all in Norris’ fate that he makes sure that he is able to close the gap.
If and only if, Verstappen doesn’t win another race this year and finishes second in every race from here until Abu Dhabi, he just needs a couple of fifths to beat Norris to the title. Even if Red Bull has lost its competitive advantage, it has not degraded to the point where podiums are out of reach.
But Norris can’t rely on his own performance. He also has to look out for Ferrari and Mercedes who are also catching up to McLaren and Max Verstappen. Mercedes and Ferrari will continue to be strong competitors, and there will probably be occasions when they perform better than McLaren and Red Bull combined.
For Lando, the perfect situation would be for the McLaren to be on par with or even better than the Red Bull than it was at Zandvoort, and for his teammate to regularly finish ahead of Max Verstappen in the next nine races no matter what.
As the season inches closer to its end, all eyes are now on Norris. He can get closer to the three-time World Champion and possibly deny him his fourth world title. It’s now all in Norris and McLaren’s fate. Will they be able to deny Max his 4th title? Will 2024 be the year Norris wins his maiden title? Or can a Mercedes driver or a Ferrari driver snatch away Norris’s title hopes in the last minute with an outstanding performance? Only time can tell.
