Let's talk Lando Norris

As we approach the beginning of the second half of the season, with ten races ahead and the championships still very much to play for. Max Verstappen leads the driver's championship by 78 points to Lando Norris his closest rival. The obvious question is can Lando Norris overcome this gap to pull out an unlikely championship win? With ten races available, 78 points are not insurmountable as Hamilton proved in 2021. That said, does Lando have the mindset and mental toughness to pull this off?

Some of the things that seem not to be in his favour are, that the McLaren team does not seem to be throwing their weight behind his championship challenge if Hungary is anything to go by. Lando also seems to be making too many crucial mistakes. Especially going up against a triple-world champion who makes so few mistakes. Also, having a strong teammate who is just as fast and capable of winning races, raises the bar somewhat and increases the pressure. Especially going up against a rival without these problems.
If anything, this 2024 season is a great opportunity for Norris to win an F1 title. He may not get this chance with a very changeable future ahead. Seeing the rate of development of Mercedes and Ferrari, there is a good chance that McLaren may not enjoy a similar run of form in 2025 or 2026. Now is the time. But it would take a flawless and consistently great performance to claw in and beat a flawless champion that is Verstappen. Lando has to show greatness in these last ten races. And look forward to seeing it.

Can he do it, l ask you?

Norris certainly capable of pulling it of. But capable and does are two different things. Plus it would take some stumbling from Max/Red Bull to enable a chance.

Lando is doing well and has a great chance of finishing 2nd in the WDC, but much like Starter I tend to think without a great amount of luck in the form of Red Bull/Max DNF's it's not very likely that he can overcome that points deficit.

As for his driving and the team errors, I don't think he's doing nearly as bad as some claim, nor is the team. Once a driver and car combination are at the front of the pack every small error is put under a microscope, no different than drivers and cars that have done well in the past. Part of the over analysis this season IMHO, is the fact that we have had four different teams and six drivers manage to get on that top podium step, and the team as well as the driver favorites spark debate on "where it went wrong" on the close races. If you ask me, the fact that 6 drivers have won races shows that it went very right.... we have tight racing and teams with cars that seem to show differing advantages track to track with upgrades and track style, as well as changing weather conditions, in the mix. With the way the season has been one slight mistake on setup for the weather, strategy, tires.... and the race could easily be lost.

So overall, I think Lando is doing well for the situation. There isn't a WDC winning driver or team on the grid that hasn't made errors under pressure. And with Lando really only having a car that compete at the sharp end this year, he's going to have more pressure than the years of the midfield McLaren. As with the others, he'll learn from mistake and either crack and recover, or be the freak driver that never cracks.

As for comparison to the 2021 season, it's really not even remotely close. Lando has over twice the points deficit to make up as compared to the worst deficit Lewis had in 2021. And in 2021 though there were multiple race winners only Max and Lewis got more than one win each. This year Lewis already has 2, and George might have had two, so unless Lando can start grabbing wins on the regular, and/or Max DNFs more frequently, it's going to be a tough hill to climb. He has to average almost 8 points per race weekend to have a shot, and that's not easy without wins with the current points system.

While Norris has the talent and McLaren's improved pace, the task of overcoming Max Verstappen's 78-point lead with ten races left would be too much for him. Norris must deliver flawless performances and capitalize on every opportunity, but the pressure, potential team dynamics, and competition from his teammate add to the challenge. It’s not impossible, but very unlikely.

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Originally Posted by Used to be Starter

Norris certainly capable of pulling it of. But capable and does are two different things. Plus it would take some stumbling from Max/Red Bull to enable a chance.

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I think Lando's chances would be clearer when we see if Redbull has recovered from the issues with the car for the start of the second half of the season. If Redbull still has cornering issues and they have not sorted out most of Perez's problems, then l would think the door is wide open for McLaren and Lando to close the gap. There is also the problem of Mercedes and Ferrari finding something over the break to move them even closer. Well, close enough to steal race wins from McLaren that could impact their chance. How Redbull and Verstappen would love for Mercedes to do just that.

Lando Norris gets his second win of the season at Zandvoort. He finished the race more than 22 seconds ahead of second placed Max Verstappen.

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Originally Posted by Matthew

Lando Norris gets his second win of the season at Zandvoort. He finished the race more than 22 seconds ahead of second placed Max Verstappen.

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A surprising gap, but that is not what we were hoping for. A closer battle would have been more interesting. That said, l wonder, where has the Redbull performance gone? That Redbull car that raced the Zandvoort GP is not much faster than the car that started the season.

Is this the result of the Horner distraction? At this rate, l cannot see how Redbull would be able to hang on to Verstappen.

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Originally Posted by Nitrodaze

A surprising gap, but that is not what we were hoping for. A closer battle would have been more interesting. That said, l wonder, where has the Redbull performance gone? That Redbull car that raced the Zandvoort GP is not much faster than the car that started the season.

Is this the result of the Horner distraction? At this rate, l cannot see how Redbull would be able to hang on to Verstappen.

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Apparently Max was quoted as saying that an earlier version of the car this year was faster and easier to drive. Maybe step back an upgrade or two?

Seeing the dramatic change of pace of the Redbull car, l am inclined to think the FIA must have instructed them to remove something from the car. Either because it was illegal or borderline illegal. Whatever the case, it is puzzling how the Redbull has become a midfield car in recent times. I was looking forward to a proper battle between Verstappen and Norris.

Verstappen is watching his championship lead hemorrhage points as he languishes in the midfield. Redbull has to get their act together or this season shall be a Papaya double. What an achievement for McLaren. We talk a lot about team principles achieving incredible feats. Last week was all about Lawrence Stroll and Aston Martin as they snatched Adrian Newey from the reach of Ferrari. We have to give credit to Zack Brown who took over the disillusioned McLaren team and slowly returned it to winning ways.

A championship win will seal his place in F1 history, for achieving what Williams and Ferrari has been unable to achieve; returning to championship-winning ways.

Solid performance from Lando Norris at Singapore. He overcame his boggy starts for change and is rewarded with a race win. More importantly, he demonstrated his superior speed relative to Piastri. But the pesky Ozzy is there about and keeping in the fight.

Lando needs to get over his concentration lapses. He seems to have got over his first lap from pole complacency but either of those two brushes with the wall could have been the end of his hopes. If he's still error prone next year Piastri could well finish ahead of him as he seems better focussed, albeit a bit slower.

Hi Im Harry and new to the Forum. As an avid F1 Fan and into producing licensed collectibles for McLaren, my money has to be on Lando to pull it off. But you are right does he have the mindset to do it? He certianly has the skill and the car underneath him to clinch it, especially with Red Bulls car not performing as well as it was in the first half of the season. But having said all this, I think that Verstappen will have something to say about this.