Max Verstappen has dismissed Lando Norris’ remarks addressing the Red Bull driver’s claim that he would have sealed the 2025 Formula 1 title if he had a McLaren.
Heading into the Qatar Grand Prix, Norris needs to only finish ahead of Verstappen to put the Dutchman out of title contention going into the season finale next week.
The McLaren driver extended his lead over the four-time World Champion to 25 points after securing a third-placed finish at the Sprint Race on Saturday.
After the 19-lap event, the Briton had addressed Verstappen’s comments where the 28-year-old claimed he would have wrapped up his fifth consecutive F1 title “a long time ago” if he had a competitive package like the MCL39.
The 26-year-old had dismissed Verstappen’s remarks saying that “he [Verstappen] doesn’t have much of a clue” and that it was typical Red Bull to “just [talk] nonsense a lot of the time.”
During his media session, however, Verstappen laughed off Norris’ rebuttal.
“No, I just put all facts on the table,” he said.
“I know that from my own experience as well. When you’re fighting for your first world title, you naturally feel a bit more pressure than in the years after that.”
The pressure is on McLaren contends Verstappen
Following a string of seven winless outings for Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri since the Dutch Grand Prix, the Australian has resoundingly bounced back at Qatar.
The 24-year-old has led every single session run so far. Starting from pole position for the Grand Prix on Sunday, Piastri can drag the title fight into Abu Dhabi if he stops Norris from outscoring him by four points.
Verstappen claims that Norris will be wary of Piastri’s resurgence making his efforts to wrap up his maiden title on Sunday “trickier”.
“It’s a bit trickier for Lando this weekend,” examined the 28-year-old.
“Oscar feels good again, I think, and you could also see that in Q3. Lando still has a decent lead, also on Oscar, so it’s all a bit hard to predict.”
On the other hand, Verstappen himself hopes to make moves on Norris as he aims to keep his title hopes alive.
The Dutchman claimed that he feels no pressure, however, as he has nothing to lose, especially compared to Norris.
“I think he knows that as well. But on the other hand, I’m not too worried about it,” added Verstappen.
“I’ll just try to do my best. If there’s an opportunity, then of course I’ll go for it.
“But at the same time, you don’t want to do anything crazy either, because that won’t help you anyway.”
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