Lando Norris has said Max Verstappen “doesn’t have much of a clue” after the four-time Formula 1 Champion claimed he would’ve wrapped up the title a long time ago if he had a McLaren.
Heading into qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, Verstappen is hanging on by a thread as he hopes to secure a fifth consecutive F1 title this season.
A recovery drive to finish fourth during the Sprint race sees the Dutchman trail Norris by 25 points heading into the final two Grands Prix.
The 28-year-old has launched a stellar comeback since the summer shutdown, minimising a 104-point deficit with four wins in the last seven rounds.
But reflecting on his season so far, the Red Bull driver had declared that if it were on him in the MCL39, the 2025 title battle “would have been over a long time ago”.
Responding to Verstappen, however, Norris quickly shut down those suggestions.
“Max is very welcome to say everything he wants, to be honest,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“He kind of earned the ride. He’s won four World Championships. I have a lot of respect [for him] and I think that gives anyone a lot of credit in general. He’s achieved an incredible amount, more than anyone generally dreams of achieving.
“Max generally has a good clue about a lot of things, but there’s also a lot of things he doesn’t have much of a clue about.
“It’s also Red Bull’s way of going about things. It’s this kind of aggressive nature and just talking nonsense a lot of the time.
“It depends if you want to listen to it and talk about it, like you love to, or you do what we do as a team, which is just keep our heads down and keep focused.
” Maybe he would have done, but he hasn’t so far and he keeps trying.”
The Sprint race saw Norris extend his lead over the 28-year-old by one point with a third-placed finish. During the race, however, Verstappen was right on the Briton’s tail.
That said, Norris revealed he was never really bothered about the RB21 in his mirrors and was rather focused on attacking George Russell in front of him.
“Of course I saw him, but he was never too much of a threat at all,” he recalled. “My focus was more on George and seeing how I could keep the tyres in a good place for later.”
Summing up his evening, Norris highlighted how track position could be crucial to how the Grand Prix plays out for him on Sunday, given how hard overtaking has proven.
“Pretty simple, really. There was not a lot going on,” he said.
“Nothing much throughout the whole race. Just impossible to follow around here. As soon as you’re within three seconds-ish, you start to struggle.
“I tried to save my tyres a bit for the end. The pace was certainly a little bit better. But after doing the whole race, not too far behind George, you pay the price in terms of tyre deg.”
Norris details why Qatar GP could be ‘very difficult’
Qualifying on Saturday evening will dictate Norris’ starting grid slot for a race that could see him crowned as an F1 champion for the very first time in his career.
The 26-year-old only needs to win the race on Sunday to seal his maiden title. But Norris is wary of the fact that life won’t be easy for him despite having a competitive package.
“It’s a bit of everything around here, to be honest. It’s understeer or oversteer,” he examined.
“It’s a little bit more all over the place than in some of the last few tracks. It’s just such a quick track.
“You really require every bit of downforce possible. When you’re following so closely, you lose a lot of that downforce. It just makes your life very difficult.”
And while his team-mate Oscar Piastri is willing to make minor adaptations to his car going into qualifying, Norris is averse to making drastic changes to his MCL39.
“The car’s in a pretty good place. There’s certainly little things you might want to tweak as well. It was more I just didn’t put things together at all yesterday,” he explained.
“But the pace was there. Some things, some driving styles that have been working the last few weeks have just really not worked at all here, especially when it got quicker and quicker.
“The more I leant on what’s been working, the more I just went slower and slower.
“I tried to use the Sprint to try and learn some things. I feel like I got some things figured out and other things not.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri wins Qatar GP Sprint to keep F1 title dream alive
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