Martin Brundle has questioned whether lacking the “killer instinct “needed versus a “brutal” Max Verstappen has cost Lando Norris in the 2024 Formula 1 title fight.
The McLaren driver has three victories to his name in the 2024 F1 season, but a drop to sixth from pole position in Brazil has put him 62 points behind Verstappen.
Norris’ woes were compounded at Interlagos as Verstappen charged from 17th place on the grid in treacherous conditions to take his first win since Spain in June.
With various mistakes seeing Norris not capitalise on McLaren’s pace advantage since, Brundle has backed Norris to learn from the lessons he has learnt this term.
“It’s [about improving] everything at the level he’s at,” Brundle told Sky Sports News.
“He’s had some amazing victories and not least in Zandvoort and Singapore where he just ran off and hid, a little bit like Max [dominates sometimes].
“But he lacks the experience of challenging for a World Championship and I think that’s a whole new set of challenges and rules – and that’s what he will learn from this year.
“But I think Lando will learn a lot from this season.
Norris lacks ‘killer instinct’ to battle ‘brutal’ Verstappen
Verstappen and Red Bull dominated the initial rounds with seven victories in the opening 10 races appearing to set up another processional championship season.
However, McLaren’s sudden rise to the top and Red Bull’s regression in competitiveness had provided Norris with an outside chance to fight for a maiden title in F1.
But it was a tall order for Norris to close that gap up to Verstappen, who demonstrated his capabilities as a multiple-time F1 champion with his comeback in Brazil.
Brundle reckons that Norris has a lot to improve upon over the winter to mount a stronger challenge in 2025, including his aggressiveness in wheel-to-wheel racing.
“Sometimes you wonder if he lacks the killer instinct up against Max, who we know can be pretty brutal in combat,” he explained.
The Sky F1 pundit also added that the gap earlier in the season was too big for Norris to catch realistically.
“And Max winning seven of the first 10 races pretty much put him out of reach really,” he continued.
“If you add all that up together, Lando needed to take a chunk of points out of Max every single race and hope that there was his team-mate and a Ferrari or two, and even a Mercedes or two, between them.
“But one turnaround, like in Brazil, and that little escapade was over by and large unless a lot of bizarre things happen now in the final races.”
READ MORE: Helmut Marko: Max Verstappen showed Lando Norris who ‘the real champion’ is in Brazil
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