Why Lando Norris will beat Max Verstappen in the F1 World Championship
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
Guenther Steiner is convinced that Max Verstappen will not win the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship. Instead, the former Haas team boss believes McLaren's Lando Norris will win the big prize. On paper, Verstappen has a comfortable 52-point lead over Norris. The Italian explained his thoughts on the title battle in an exclusive interview with GPblog.
Norris has had the fastest car in F1 in recent weeks, but did not maximise every chance he got. A sign that he might not be good enough to become champion, because someone like Verstappen, rarely makes mistakes. "I think he's learning because to win consistently, you have to learn that one as well. And it takes time," Steiner said.
According to Steiner, McLaren currently has the best car, but it is not a guarantee: "I would say he can become world champion if he gets the help of Ferrari. To be between McLaren and Max, I call it. Because the last race in Singapore, I think Max scored more than he should have scored, because between two and three, there should have been a Ferrari but they messed up in qualifying, so they couldn't get there."
Does Norris have enough time?
Steiner believes this will decide in the title race: "How many points can Ferrari steal off Max and how few mistakes Lando makes. Because obviously he's got the qualities, he made some mistakes. I think he's fixing them one by one. Does he have time to fix them for the World Championship? I would think so, because Singapore, he was driving very smart. Again, he didn't have a lot of pressure because the car was so good. So it's easier when you're not under pressure not to make a mistake," Steiner concluded.
This article has been created in collaboration with Matt Gretton