Nico Rosberg suspects Red Bull is frightened by McLaren’s recent pace and has cast doubt on whether Max Verstappen will win the Formula 1 championship in 2024.
Verstappen and Red Bull have seen a dominant start to 2024 eliminated, with McLaren’s vast in-season improvement bringing Lando Norris right into title contention.
With six races left, Norris trails Verstappen by 52 points, but amid convincing wins in Zandvoort and Singapore, he is poised to gain further ground before Abu Dhabi.
Mathematically, second place in the remaining rounds – including the Sprint – would be enough to secure the title by a single point for Verstappen at the season finale.
However, Rosberg has questioned whether this scenario is realistic, believing McLaren’s speed has Red Bull fearful of losing more points once the campaign resumes.
“That’s going to have Red Bull scared because with this speed to the end of the year, it’s realistic that Lando can really win all the remaining races,” Rosberg told Sky F1.
“And for Max to come second is so difficult… The World Championship is still on.
“It’s almost impossible for a Max to finish second all the time because of Oscar [Piastri] being there also.
“Oscar has been doing such a great job. Generally, he’s going to be taking points away from Max so that’s a big problem,” Rosberg concluded.
Meanwhile, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has warned more than second places will be essential to ensuring Verstappen secures a fourth consecutive Drivers’ title.
“Relying on always coming second, that is not enough,” the Austrian conceded.
Norris bullish about F1 title charge
Speaking in the FIA press conference after his dominant victory in Singapore, Norris gave a candid response when asked if the title will be decided at the final race.
“I can’t tell the future, so… I’m working as hard as I can,” Norris said. “I’m sure Red Bull, Max as well.
“I’m sure there’s going to be plenty of competition until the end of the year, and as a team, the only thing we can do is try and score the most points possible.
That includes trying to win. Yeah, it’s, again, a silly question. I mean, we’re doing our best, and so are they. I hope so.
“I still have a lot of points I’ve got to catch up and it’s not going to be easy to do it.
“It’s against Red Bull and it’s against Max, the most dominant pairing you’ve ever seen in Formula 1, from last year.
“And that’s not necessarily changed in terms of… It’s the same team and it’s the same driver. So I have some of the toughest competition that Formula 1 has ever seen in the sport.
“We are doing a better job as a team right now because my car and our car is quicker than theirs.”
