F1 title is still Verstappen’s to lose despite Red Bull drop-off

Lando Norris insists he is still the driver with “nothing to lose” in his Formula 1 title fight with Max Verstappen.

While slowly reeling in Verstappen in the drivers’ championship, Norris has not taken full advantage of the drop-off in pace of the Red Bull in recent races.

He heads into Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix still 59 points behind, meaning he needs to outscore the Dutchman by an average of nine points a race in the remaining seven grands prix this season.

His McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri has been in better form of late, winning in Baku last time out as Norris battled back from Q1 elimination to finish fourth, a place ahead of Verstappen and with a point for the fastest lap.

That result for McLaren at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix means it leads the constructors’ standings and Norris has, on more than one occasion, highlighted Ferrari as its main competitor in that particular championship.

But in his own personal battle with Verstappen, he refuted a suggestion the driver’s title is his to lose given the fact McLaren is currently the fastest car on the grid.

Norris pointed to the dominance of the Red Bull package early in the season when Verstappen won four of the first five races, a run only interrupted by brake problems in Australia, and took the first seven pole positions to underline that “they were beating us by bigger margins than we’re beating them by”.

“It’s still for him to lose, not for me. I’m still the one that’s got nothing to lose at the minute,” he said.

“If you go back to the beginning of the year, Red Bull were still dominant. I mean they won about the first four or five races of the year. Max had like the first eight pole positions of the year and they were beating us by bigger margins than we’re beating them by.

Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“So they’re having a less difficult time than we had at the beginning of the year. So they’re still more in the race than what we were at the beginning of the year. We’ve turned things around and at the same time, I strongly believe that they can still turn things around quite quickly.

“Really it’s only been the last two where I would say that they’ve been off the pace both a little bit in qualifying but also, and probably more so, the race itself. So I think people just need to look more specifically at what things are obvious and in front of them and not make judgements or general stuff.”

Norris has won twice this year, his first-ever Formula 1 victory coming in Miami before he went on to take the chequered flag at Verstappen’s home grand prix in Zandvoort.

Those results have led to Norris fighting for the title this season and explained the change in his mental approach now he knows what he has to achieve to secure the championship.

“The easiest thing is to look at how much I celebrated Miami versus how much I celebrated in Zandvoort. I didn’t really celebrate at all in Zandvoort, it was just a little fist bump and a couple of smiles, but that was it,” he added.

“If I was completely out of the championship I probably would’ve celebrated more, but considering I know it kind of means something towards a bigger prospect, it just felt like a smaller thing on that day and the meaning of it.”