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Confidence in a world title for Norris is growing at McLaren
After Formula 1's first race back from the summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix, it was clear which team was in the ascendancy. McLaren dominated the proceedings at Zandvoort as Lando Norris took the race victory 22 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. The papaya-coloured team now come into the Italian Grand Prix as the team to beat, but Norris still has to overturn a 70-point deficit with just nine races to go to challenge Verstappen for the drivers' championship. But team principal Andrea Stella is still adamant that the Brit can get the job done.
McLaren closed the gap in the constructors' championship after their dominant performance in Zandvoort, as they now sit just 30 points behind Red Bull. Now, as Monza plays host to the next race after the summer break, there will be hope that the British team will be able to continue with their superb pace to close the gap to Red Bull.
Norris will also be looking to catch up to Verstappen once more, and he will need to outperform the Dutchman at most, if not all remaining races to have a chance to overtake in the drivers' title race. However, Verstappen topped the timing sheets in FP1, highlighting that Red Bull may have refound some pace after a poor showing in the Netherlands. But, team boss Stella is not worried about the 70-point gap between Norris and Verstappen, nor the pace from Red Bull on Friday.
"I do believe" says Stella about Norris' title hope chances
Speaking to Sky Sports after the first free practice session in Monza on Friday, Stella was asked whether he still believes that the drivers' championship is still attainable for Norris, to which the Italian team boss said: "I do believe. I believe because it's mathematically possible. And I believe because we have a competitive package overall. The competitive package for me includes the car, includes Lando, includes the team and Oscar. I think if we achieve this result, which obviously at the moment looks pretty distant, but not impossible, it will be because we get the most out of all these components."
It will be an almighty task for Norris and McLaren to overhaul the points gap between them and Verstappen. Norris will have to win the majority of the final nine races and have to hope for some bad luck on the Red Bull side of the garage. There has also been talk about his teammate Oscar Piastri helping Norris out in his quest for the drivers' title, but Stella rejected those claims: "I think it will be at the moment a step too far that for nine races we ask Oscar, 'Oh, give up your race in favour of Lando.' That's a step too far for Lando himself because that's not the way he wants to win. He wants to win because he's strong on track and competitive. And then, in some situations where it makes sense, then we certainly will help him."
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