Verstappen rates his title rival: 'Norris made it difficult for me'
F1 News
In a championship battle, when one celebrates, the other of course misses out. Max Verstappen won the 2024 drivers' title in Las Vegas last weekend by finishing ahead of Lando Norris in the 'Sin City'. As now, the Briton cannot catch up to the Red Bull driver, Verstappen reflected on Norris' performance this season as well.
Entering the Las Vegas GP, Verstappen had to concede no more than two points to Lando Norris to be crowned as champion in the United States. Verstappen eventually finished in P5 and ahead of the McLaren driver, beginning the celebrations for the Red Bull crew.
Following the race, Verstappen did praise Norris. "We have a lot of incredible young talent in the sport and Lando is definitely one of them. And of course, at times he made it very difficult for me. We simply didn't have an answer in many races where they were just clearly faster."
He continued: "So that made it, of course, difficult but to win a championship you need to be consistent. Sometimes you try to overperform, it doesn't happen every weekend but sometimes you can, and that's what we did."
According to Verstappen, the duo will have many more years come where they will be able to fight against each other at the top. "McLaren at the moment, they're extremely strong and of course Lando, I know him of course for a long time already, so also to race a friend of yours to the title is always a little bit different, but I think we have a lot of respect for each other. And well, I'm sure that we'll have many more battles to come."
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