F1 News
Norris sends warning to Verstappen: 'Better here than Singapore'
Lando Norris has warned Max Verstappen that the United States Grand Prix weekend should be better for him than Singapore. Norris won that race by nearly 21 seconds, though the Dutchman did finish second so could only cut his Championship deficit by seven points.
Norris and Verstappen are set to go head-to-head in the remaining six Grand Prix weekends. Norris has a 52-point gap to close. The Brit looks back on the 2023 edition in Austin to draw confidence.
Why Norris expects Austin to be better than Singapore
Norris started by saying he wanted to continue going after Singapore because the team were in "good rhythm". Norris was then asked if his confidence is still as high as it was in Singapore. "Yeah, I think so. Probably more, I would say. If you look at where we were last year here, relative with the car that we had, comparing to where we were in Singapore, I think this was a better weekend for us. We led the first half of the race. I know some things were mixed up because of different scenarios, but it was a good weekend," Norris said.
"Some of the things have changed again on this track with the new surfaces, and some of the layout has changed a little bit, so always questions for us to go and answer. But from last year, with how we're performing over the last three, four, five races, I think we're confident everywhere that we should be towards the top," Norris continued alluding to the fact that McLaren has won three of the last four races and has opened up a 41 point lead on Red Bull Racing in the Constructors' Championship.
But Norris knows he is up against it in the Drivers' Championship, and reiterated that he needs some help. "It can go my way. It can go Max's way. So I keep focused on doing what I'm doing. I've been doing a good job. I'm happy with how things have gone. I've not been happy with always the final result for different reasons. But I'm happy with what we're doing as a team and how we're working together. I'm confident if we just keep our heads down and keep pushing, we can do it and we can close the gap. But it's not easy. I need more than just me first and Max second, but I can't change that," Norris concluded.
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