The 2024 Drivers’ Championship fight came to an end at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen being crowned for the fourth consecutive year over Lando Norris.
Fighting For Victory
When asked if this title fight was harder than what he expected it to be, Norris replied:
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“No, I didn’t even expect to be in the title fight.”
It is hard to believe that Norris only achieved his maiden victory in Formula 1 at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix just seven months ago.
Since then, Norris has achieved three Grand Prix wins, one Sprint Race win, twelve podiums and seven pole positions.
With Verstappen winning seven out of the first ten Grand Prixs this season, the 2024 Drivers’ Championship seemingly appeared set in stone just like the 2023 season.
However, with the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix marking the end of Verstappen’s victories for the ten races that followed, consistency found Norris rapidly closing the gap to his rival.
“Since Zandvoort I felt like I’ve done close to a perfect job. Always things I could have improved on and need to improve on as always, but I feel like I’ve done a very good job, especially in the second half of the season.”
Winning Mentality
At the beginning of the season, it was clear that neither McLaren or Norris was expecting to be fighting for both the 2024 Formula 1 Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championship.
The 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw McLaren take first position over Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship for the first time in over a decade.
“We were suddenly fighting them,” said Norris.
“I don’t think I was, or we were as a team mentally ready to be […] and execute it perfectly. As much as we would like to believe we were, we weren’t and we payed the price a little bit, but also it was us that were there fighting Max, no-one else.”
However, Norris admits that he has been happy with his performance this year, particularly when dealing with the sudden onset of fighting for the Drivers’ Championship alongside Verstappen.
“I think I was happy with how just calm I was, how focused I was. There’s definitely more pressure, there’s more eyes, there’s more nerves, there’s more demands on me making sure I go out and don’t mess up a quali lap, don’t make a mistake in the race, stay in the race, don’t get taken out. You have to drive better when you get to that point, and I feel like I have.”
Furthermore, the battle this year has not just been two-way, with seven different winners across four different teams so far contrasting greatly to Verstappen’s dominance last season.
“We started the season off worse than the first four teams, slowest of the top four and we’ve ended up being the most consistent and probably the best team,” said Norris.
“I’m more proud than anything else, I don’t regret anything […] I don’t think even if it was a perfect year on my behalf we could have won the championship this year. I think Max drove too well, Red Bull and the team did a too good of a job for us and it was just loss in the first six races.”
Looking Ahead
“Knowing the championship is 100% over, you always have a little bit of hope inside,” admitted Norris.
“But he [Verstappen] drove an incredible season. When he had the quickest car, he dominated, when he didn’t, he was still there and always on my heels. He made my life tough; I made his tough at times I’m sure, but he drove a better season.”
However, with just two races left of the 2024 season, Norris is already looking ahead to 2025.
“Still happy it was us and we put up a good fight and I look forward to next year, being in there from the beginning.”
With McLaren still on track to win the 2024 Constructors’ Championship ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull, and Norris now having a taste of what it is like to be in the fight for the Drivers’ Championship, 2025 is set to be an exciting season with Norris hoping to dominate.
As Vegas Happened
“The race was just pretty pants,” Norris stated unapologetically.
“Bad pace, bad grip, bad tyre management. A poor weekend from us.”
After qualifying in sixth position, this is also where Norris finished, with teammate Oscar Piastri just behind in seventh.
The free practice sessions earlier in the week showed glimmers of promise, with Norris finishing in the top three in both FP1 and FP2, however this was seemingly not a true representation.
“The whole weekend we’ve been struggling. Maybe it’s not looked it as much from the timings […] but I think we’ve known all weekend we were struggling a bit,” said Norris.
“There were some laps in practice where maybe when you’re driving at 99% it just floats round and you’re like ‘yeah that was a good lap’ but the chances of doing that every time were just too slim today [in qualifying] and I don’t know why we expected to do a bit better than we did, it just proved too much of a challenge.”
Verstappen On Norris
When asked about his Championship rival, Verstappen assured:
“He’s a great driver and I’m sure that his time will come, that he will win titles.”
It was the second half of the season that saw the rivalry between Norris and Verstappen become notably heightened.
During the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen received a ten-second penalty after causing a collision with Norris which also led to his retirement from the race.
Furthermore, during the 2024 American Grand Prix, Norris received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when overtaking Verstappen on lap 44.
However, this was a decision that was later appealed by McLaren as Verstappen was not penalised for the same incident at the beginning of the Grand Prix. This appeal was later rejected by the FIA.
Finally, at the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen received two ten-second penalties after two separate incidents with Norris, which involved forcing him off the track.
Despite this, Verstappen made it clear that:
“We respect each other a lot, of course at times we are under a lot of pressure as well and we had our moments together, some clashes, but at the end of the day I think we can always look at each other in the eye and appreciate what we are doing with a lot of respect on-track, off-track and he’s a great guy honestly.”
Even before this year’s Championship battle, Verstappen revealed that he told Norris:
“Your time will come, stick to the process, I think you’re in a good team environment.”
“I happily invited him to also be my teammate at the time, I told him if you want to win, you can come here [Red Bull] as well,” said Verstappen.
Rumours of Norris possibly joining Verstappen at Red Bull were particularly prominent after the 2023 season, however McLaren revealed that the British driver had renewed his contract with the team in a ‘multi-year’ deal in January 2024.
“I find it a bit unfair, Lando for example gave a comment and a lot of fans, they fall out over it saying ‘Ah he’s not respectful’ or the other way around from my side. We respect each other a lot,” said Verstappen.
“I have a lot of respect for him.”
Featured Image Credit: McLaren Racing
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