Lando Norris has insisted that he can still beat Max Verstappen to the title in 2024, despite admitting that he hasn’t operated at “the level of a champion” in Formula 1.
Norris has capitalised on McLaren’s consistent competitiveness to emerge as Max Verstappen’s closest championship contender with 10 rounds remaining this term.
But while McLaren has managed to eradicate the gap to Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship to 42 points, Norris trails a sizeable 78 points behind Verstappen.
The Briton has lamented multiple squandered opportunities to reduce Verstappen’s advantage, including in Belgium when the Dutchman incurred a 10-place grid drop.
Norris expressed at Spa-Francorchamps that he needed to “reset” during the summer break amid a run which had seen him unable to add to his maiden win in Miami.
Ahead of the season restarting at the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend, Norris has revealed that the shutdown has provided him the chance to address his weaknesses.
“I’m fighting for a championship, so I’m not going to be happy if I’m not performing at the level that I need to beat Max and to beat Red Bull and the other drivers that I need to be beating,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I think it’s still the same, I’m still very happy with how the season’s gone, but 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 at the end of the day and to fight against a driver like Max. So plenty of things I’ve looked into and I’ve had to work on and I’m much stronger.”
With sluggish starts costing him victories in Belgium, Hungary and Spain, Norris has acknowledged that executing better opening laps is essential to his title chances.
“I mean it’s a mixture of things, but it starts in lap one,” he explained. “Again, not like a single thing I need to change, honestly.
“But that’s where most of my opportunities have gone away from. After lap one onwards, generally the races have been very strong and the pace has still been very good.
“Race pace has been good, strategy I’ve been very happy with.
“So there’s still so many strong things, but always overshadowed by having a bad start or a bad turn one or being a bit safe at times, trying to stay out of trouble, things like that.
“So not a huge amount, but also not certain things, not easy ones to just guarantee a perfect change on.”
Norris has garnered a reputation for being harsh on his efforts, but he considers it reasonable to be critical when he hasn’t delivered to the standard that he has set.
“After the first half of the season, I’ve not performed at the level of a World Champion. Simple as that,” he proclaimed. “I’ve not performed at the level I need to.
“At certain times, I have. Many races, I have done. But also little things have just let me down along the way and those are things I cannot afford to let down. But I know that.
“I’m not happy with it. I’ve shown in the past, I’ve shown in the last few races, I’m not happy when I’ve not been at the level I need to be at.
“But that’s just because I’m passionate and I want to win.
“Finding that line of not judging a driver for being passionate and wanting to win and not being happy with not winning, that’s what the athletes do. That’s what we want.
“We work hard to go out and do our best and not make mistakes and to try and win.
“And when we don’t do that as an athlete, we’re not going to be happy. We’re not going to be satisfied with our own job.
“That’s the simple thing, what I’ve not been happy with over the course of the season. It’s what I’m working very hard to try and improve.”
However, Norris is remaining optimistic that he can complete the greatest points turnaround the sport has witnessed to pip Verstappen to take a maiden Drivers’ title.
“I mean for the team of course, that’s a much more obvious one,” he answered when asked about his championship prospects in 2024.
“As a driver of course it’s still in reach, but it’s a lot of points and it’s against Max. So I want to be optimistic and say there’s still chances.
“I know it’s a lot and it’s going to be a very difficult challenge, but with how we’re performing, with how I know I can go out and perform when things click and things go well, then I still want to believe it’s possible.”
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