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Lando Norris on title hopes after Dutch Grand Prix

Norris: it's 'pretty stupid' to think about title race with Verstappen

26 August at 11:00
Last update 26 August at 15:17

Lando Norris' stunning win at the Dutch Grand Prix could be seen as a turning point in the world championship. A dominant 23-second triumph has not been seen since Max Verstappen stormed to victory in Bahrain at the start of the season. British media now think Norris has a serious shot of winning the driver's world championship, but the McLaren star refuses to get ahead of himself. Even after such a convincing victory, Norris brands any current world title aspirations as 'pretty stupid.'

Of course, so much has changed since the first race in Bahrain. Unpredictably, the 2024 season has turned into one of the most entertaining in recent years. We've been treated to seven different race winners from four different teams, and mere milliseconds are the difference between the competition, which makes Lando Norris's 23-second victory so impressive. The Brit, who has now won two races, refuses to get ahead of himself.

Norris: "Pretty stupid to think of anything at the minute"

When asked in the post-race press conference about his title chances, Norris said: "I’ve been fighting for the championship since the first race of the year. There's no sudden decision of now I need to do better. I've been working hard the whole year. I'm still 70 points behind Max, so it's pretty stupid to think of anything at the minute," he responded. 

'I remain focused on one race at a time'

"I just take one race at a time and just keep doing what I'm doing now because, yes, there's no point in thinking ahead and thinking of the rest. I don't care about it at the minute. I'm just, yes, [I] focus one race at a time. So it's not a question that I need to get asked every single weekend." Norris concluded. 

Verstappen has been much more consistent than Norris throughout the whole season, as the Dutchman has won seven races in 2024 compared to Norris's two. A monumental effort from the Brit is needed if he wants to close the 70-point gap in the final nine rounds of the season, but McLaren will be working around the clock to launch a challenge on both world titles.

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