Lando Norris Dismisses F1 Title Hype: ‘Pretty Stupid’ to Think About Beating Verstappen

Lando Norris dismisses any "foolish" speculation about competing with Max Verstappen for the F1 championship, stating that he currently doesn't care about such thoughts.

Lando Norris believes it would be "quite foolish" to consider winning this year's F1 world championship, even after his commanding performance at the Dutch Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver managed to recover from a bad start which caused him to lose the lead and successfully overtook Red Bull’s Max Verstappen on the 18th lap. Norris then pulled away from Verstappen and secured an impressive victory at Zandvoort, finishing 22.9 seconds ahead.

Norris clinched his second win of the season, reducing Verstappen's lead in the drivers' world championship. However, the Dutch driver maintains a substantial 70-point advantage.

Norris remains cautious and isn't letting himself get overly optimistic about his chances of surpassing Verstappen to win the world title, even with nine races left.

Norris stated that he has been competing for the championship since the season's opening race, and emphasized that his commitment is not a recent development.

"I have to improve. Despite putting in a lot of effort throughout the year, I'm still trailing Max by 70 points. So, it's quite foolish to consider anything else right now."

"I focus on each race individually and continue with my current approach, as there's no benefit in worrying about the future."

"Right now, it's not something I'm concerned about. I'm concentrating on each race as it comes, so there's no need to ask me about it every weekend."

McLaren's impressive showing came after the team unveiled their first significant upgrade since the Miami Grand Prix in May.

However, Norris, who also secured pole position with a lead of 0.356 seconds in qualifying, emphasized that McLaren’s win wasn't just because of their upgrades.

He mentioned that he believes they would have emerged victorious even without the upgrades this weekend. He added that the enhancements didn't dramatically increase their speed at this venue.

"The improvements we've made to the car have consistently benefited us. Each time we implemented an upgrade, it performed exactly as expected, without any doubts. The enhancements fulfilled all our requirements and objectives seamlessly."

"We haven't rushed things. This is our initial major update since Miami. Yes, we've made minor adjustments here and there, but nothing substantial that boosts performance. Many others have done the same."

"We slipped a bit in the rankings when it came to providing parts and upgrades compared to our competitors. This was the first instance where we added something to the car that truly propelled us ahead. It certainly achieved that goal."

Norris minimized claims that McLaren might be the top contender at the upcoming Italian Grand Prix.

He remarked that any team could lead the pack, mentioning Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, and their own team. He noted that Ferrari was surprisingly fast, which they hadn't anticipated. On the other hand, he suggested that Red Bull might have faced some difficulties.

"I believe the main reason was likely that Red Bull faced more difficulties than we anticipated. We simply stayed focused and kept working diligently."

"It's useless to speculate about our performance next weekend. We should simply show up, put in our best effort, and see what happens when the time comes. Thinking ahead is futile."

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