Norris Emerges as Title Contender, Says Rival Verstappen

Red Bull’s Formula 1 leader Max Verstappen (26) acknowledged Lando Norris (24) as a rising title contender on Thursday following the McLaren driver’s recent streak of a win and two second-place finishes in the last three races.

Verstappen, who has secured five wins out of seven races this season and achieved a record seven pole positions, admitted ahead of Sunday’s Monaco Grand Prix that Norris is closing in.

When asked about Norris’s recent comments regarding his potential to become a title contender, Verstappen said, “Everyone should think like that.”

“After their last few races they (McLaren) are really in the mix,” he told reporters. “Of course, they are quite a few points down at the moment, but if they start winning, that can change quickly.”

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McLaren, former champions, have shown significant progress since July last year in Austria. Norris secured six second-place finishes during the rest of the season and continued to improve.

Norris claimed his first F1 win in Miami this month, after finishing second in Shanghai. He also took second place at Italy’s Imola circuit last weekend and third in Australia in March.

The Briton has been on the podium in four of the last five races and has not finished lower than eighth.

Along with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, he is one of only two drivers, apart from Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez, to have won since 2022.

Norris, currently fourth overall, trails Verstappen by 60 points with 17 rounds left. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is Verstappen’s closest rival, 48 points behind.

Verstappen dominated last season, winning 19 of 22 races, but this year, Ferrari and McLaren have each won a race.

“We have not thought about it (the championship) at all over the last four weeks. You focus on getting a good result and things just play out for themselves,” said Norris separately.

“We have definitely put ourselves in there,” he added.

“We lost a lot (of points) over the first couple of weekends, so that’s hurt us, but we are about a third of the way through, so there are plenty of opportunities for us.

“We know we still have some things coming in the future, and if things turn around, we can easily start to come back at some of the teams.

“We’re probably the team, along with Ferrari at least, that has two cars performing at every session and every race in qualifying.”