Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc brush off comments from Max Verstappen about winning the F1 title with McLaren and or Ferrari in 2024.
Post his fourth F1 title win in Las Vegas, Red Bull’s Verstappen indicated that could have won the championship driving a McLaren and even Ferrari in 2024 considering that the two teams are involved in the fight for constructors’ championship and have shown good pace all-round the year.
It wasn’t easy for Verstappen this year as he was mostly alone considering Sergio Perez’s struggles. The domination at the start coupled with instances of Ferrari and Mercedes doing well, did not help Norris. The Brit joked when asked about the Dutchman’s comments of winning the title driving a McLaren.
But Norris acknowledged the work done by Verstappen on his own for most part of 2024 season. He could see pros and cons of not having a teammate excelling alongside as Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren did. “He should start doing comedy or something,” said Norris. “He can say whatever he wants. Of course, I completely disagree, as I would. He’s good, but yeah, it’s not true.
“No. I mean, there’s pros and cons. There’s pros of having… Like he has to do all of his work on his own, which is, hats off to him, you know, he doesn’t have someone who’s pushing him. He doesn’t have someone who’s trying other things with the car, and you can’t do a to b tests and things like that, because the data’s not as valuable when you don’t have someone who’s performing at the same level.
“So there’s a lot of things that Max can do that are phenomenal. Driving at the level he does consistently without a team-mate that can push him in any way, certainly makes his life harder from that perspective, also from team perspective. But at the same time, yeah, there’s no pressure. He doesn’t have to deal with trying to beat anyone in his own team. That comes with some comfort.
“But they go together. Sometimes, in some ways, I like having a bit of pressure, because it makes me do a slightly better job. I’m sure he’s going to say he doesn’t care whoever his team-mate is, you know, he’s not going to mind, but there’s pros and cons of having a strong team-mate, and I hope at some point he has one and I can challenge him a bit more.
“As for friendship, no, there were some tougher moments. We are still good friends, we had nice word with each other after Las Vegas. I have a lot of respect for him and what he’s done, so from my side, it is all good,” summed up Norris, as Ferrari’s Leclerc echoed the Brit’s comments and thought, it was a bit of stretch to think that he could have won the title driving a Ferrari.
“I mean, Max is a very special driver,” said Leclerc. “And I think what makes him very special is also the confidence that he has. However, I think it’s very difficult to say something like that not knowing actually what the car is like. Yeah, he’s an incredible driver. No doubts whether he will have made it or not. I don’t know. I don’t know how the Red Bull is. I don’t know how the McLaren is.
“ And he doesn’t know how the Ferrari is. So it’s maybe a bit of a stretch to say something like that. But yeah, nothing to add,” summed up Leclerc, as Verstappen reckoned there is nothing to respond on his take and that he knows what he can do as opposed to anyone else, when asked about Norris’ response.
“No, but no one needs to respond,” said Verstappen. “I know perfectly well for myself what I can and cannot do. We don’t need to talk about that [Lando lost the title and accepted the loss with grace]. I don’t spend time trying to slag people off, yeah, championship is done. We try again next year.”
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, was asked if he can beat Verstappen, driving the same machinery. “Well, that will be a very nice thing to try to be in a position to fight for the World Championship,” he said. “At the moment, we are not in that position, and next year probably is going to be difficult. But hopefully in ‘26, with the new rules, we’ll have a better chance to try at least.
“And yeah, so far Max has proven, not having weak points, basically, and he has been always delivering the job on Sundays and scoring, you know, so many points when the car was good, but so many points when the car was not good as well. And that’s the strength, you know, to win a championship. And yeah, you always think that if you have a chance, maybe things could be more difficult for him.”
Here’s Sergio Perez on Las Vegas GP
Here’s Max Verstappen on F1 title win
Here’s Lando Norris, Andrea Stella on Max Verstappen
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