Norris throws down gauntlet to Verstappen and Red Bull

Lando Norris has set his sights on an ambitious goal for the end of 2024, with one caveat.

Norris and McLaren are in a scintillating form, their season transforming since the introduction of an upgrade to the MCL38 at Imola.

Taking victory in Miami, Norris has now shared the podium with Max Verstappen in four out of the last five races. The Briton took a stunning pole position in Spain in the closing minutes of Q3, beating Verstappen by 0.020s.

The start of the race did not go according to plan, with Norris suffering wheel spin. Forced to defend his line on the long run down to turn one, he lost the lead to George Russell’s Mercedes, with Verstappen also slipping past.

Although recovering to second place by the chequered flag and finishing just 2.2 seconds behind Verstappen, a potential victory had slipped through his fingers.

Title ambitions

Despite the disappointment, Norris believes he could still challenge for the 2024 title. Speaking to formula1.com after the race, Norris was bullish when asked about the prospect. He also confirmed the need for McLaren to get closer to Verstappen:

“I mean, I think so. “I think we should have done better today. We should have got some points back on Max. Potentially, there was a chance to beat him in Canada. So two races that I finished second and he’s won. But Max needs to stop winning in order to achieve that!

“Even though I moved into second in the championship, that doesn’t matter. I couldn’t care if I was second or 10th. It’s more about what the gap to Max is, and he’s still extending it at the minute and that’s something we can’t afford… [We] can’t afford to kind of let him run away with it at this point of the season.”

However, Norris admits that despite his climb up the standings, he and McLaren need to iron out mistakes. A missed pit stop call in Canada arguably cost Norris victory in Canada, while his start in Barcelona made chasing victory a tall order;

“But we can do it. You know, if I just made some better decisions in Canada, and if I had a better start today, we could have won two races. And I know there’s a lot of – and there kind of always has been a lot of – ‘shoulda, woulda, couldas’, but we have what it takes. It’s just about putting it all together.”

As F1 prepares for the second race of the summer triple header, Norris is optimistic that racing at two of his favourite circuits will allow him to challenge Red Bull:

“Austria and Silverstone are two of my favourite tracks, in terms of performances and where I’ve performed well at,” said Norris. “So I’m excited. We’re on a good roll, we’re doing well.

“I need to just tidy up a few little bits and we’ll be on top.”

Feature Image Credit: McLaren Racing Media Centre