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Lando Norris Dismisses F1 Title Speculation as ‘Pretty Stupid’ Despite Dominant Dutch GP Victory
"Lando Norris dismisses 'foolish' speculation about competing with Max Verstappen for the F1 championship, stating he's currently indifferent."
Lando Norris has expressed that considering himself a contender for this year's F1 world championship would be "quite foolish," even after his commanding win at the Dutch Grand Prix.
The driver from McLaren recovered from an initial setback that saw him drop from the front position due to a sluggish start, managing to pass Red Bull's Max Verstappen on the 18th lap. Norris then widened the gap from Verstappen and clinched a significant victory at Zandvoort by a margin of 22.9 seconds.
Norris secured his second win of the season, narrowing the gap with Verstappen in the drivers' world championship standings, although Verstappen maintains a significant lead of 70 points.
Norris is keeping his feet on the ground and not getting ahead of himself with the notion that he could still overtake Verstappen in the race for the world championship, with nine races left to go.
"Norris stated, "I've been in the battle for the title from the season's opening race. This isn't a decision made on the spur of the moment."
I must improve. Despite my efforts throughout the year, I find myself 70 points short of Max's score. Therefore, it seems quite senseless to consider any possibilities right now.
"I simply focus on each race individually and continue with my current approach since there's no benefit in looking too far ahead or considering what's next.
"Right now, it's not something that concerns me. I'm purely concentrated on tackling each race as it comes, so it's not a query I feel needs to be raised repeatedly every weekend."
McLaren's impressive showing came after the team implemented its first significant update since the Miami Grand Prix in May.
However, Norris, who had also clinched the pole position by a lead of 0.356 seconds during the qualifiers, maintained that McLaren's triumph wasn't just a result of their upgrades.
"He expressed confidence that even without the enhancements, they would have emerged victorious this weekend. He noted that the improvements didn't drastically increase their speed at this location."
The enhancements we've made to the car have consistently improved its performance. It's not a situation where we install these upgrades and doubt their effectiveness. Rather, every addition works exactly as we hope and fulfills its intended purpose without fail.
"We've been patient. This marks our initial enhancement since the Miami event. Indeed, we've made minor adjustments periodically. Such adjustments are merely fine-tuning, not significant leaps in performance. And this is a path many have tread."
"We experienced a bit of a setback in terms of supplying components and introducing improvements, falling behind our competitors. This marked our initial attempt at implementing something on the vehicle that would significantly propel us forward. It certainly achieved that goal."
Norris played down the idea that McLaren might emerge as the frontrunner in the upcoming Italian Grand Prix.
He mentioned, "The lead could belong to anyone – Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, or ourselves. Ferrari showed impressive speed. Their performance surpassed our expectations. It seems Red Bull might have faced some challenges."
"I believe the primary reason was that the Red Bull faced more difficulties than anticipated. We simply stay focused on our work.
"It's futile to ponder over our plans for the upcoming weekend. Our strategy is to simply arrive, put in the effort, and let things unfold. Dwelling on future plans serves no purpose."
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