F1 News
Is being '99% comfortable' enough for Norris to become a champion?
With just six races to go until the end of the 2024 season, including three sprint races, the world championship battle continues to intensify. A dominant performance from Lando Norris at the Singapore Grand Prix highlighted that McLaren are still the team to beat on the grid, finishing ahead of everybody by just under 21 seconds, closing the gap in the drivers' standings to just 52 points, with Max Verstappen still holding on to first place.
Since Norris' win at the Miami Grand Prix, McLaren have shown themselves to be the most consistent team at any circuit this season. Conversely, Red Bull, after dominating the 2023 season, have regressed with their progress, and Verstappen is still searching for his first win since the Spanish Grand Prix. The Austrian team have also relinquished their lead in the constructors' championship to McLaren.
Norris knows that he has let opportunities slip past him at many Grands Prix this year to close that 52-point gap even further, but after easing to victory last time out in Singapore, the 24-year-old will hope that pace will continue, and maybe even see some more improvement from his papaya-coloured machine.
Norris 'working more than ever' to close the gap in the title race
Speaking to The Athletic, Norris explained: "I’m working more, probably than I have done previously, on every area to try and improve and eliminate as many weaknesses as I can. I feel like I’ve got to a point where I was very comfortable, and I’m quite comfortable and confident now with 99 percent of things, then it’s like, ‘OK, where’s the next big thing going to be?’"
The United States Grand Prix is the next race in 2024, and Norris and McLaren will want to try and do anything in their power to find that extra pace that could lead them to a double title-winning season in 2024: “Life has not changed. It’s just working in different ways to try and unlock more performance. It's as simple as that, really.”
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