If Lando Norris doesn't take the champions title this season, whose fault is it?
Jack Villeneuve, former driver and current Formula 1 commentator, said in an interview for the Spanish newspaper Marca:
“If Lando Norris doesn't become world champion this season, it's McLaren's fault. They ruined several races and it is most likely too late to catch up to Max. All this started in Hungary”
Max Verstappen and Lando Norris 2024 Singapore grand prix podium
Photo: Formula 1 press
The Hungarian Grand Prix was the race that showed that although Mclaren has the best car this season the team is making many mistakes strategically. This race showed that the team was not prepared. Putting its drivers to fight for a position because of a mistake in the strategy leaves a lot to think about.
The undercut they did to Oscar Piastri was a clear mistake on the part of the team and then asking Lando Norris, who was already in the fight for the drivers' championship to return that first position. It is a situation that first ruined both of their drivers race and second, they gave points to Max Verstappen that could be fundamental for Lando to take that world champion title or not.
Another reason was the appearance of the famous “papaya rules”. Andrea Stella, Mclaren sports director, explained that the papaya rules are based on letting the drivers fight among themselves, leaving enough space to avoid crashing and for this fight to be respectful. A consistent strategy if the team did not have one of its drivers with a much greater chance of winning the championship over its other driver.
All these little things add up to the big problem for this team so far this season. The strategies at Mclaren are those that have mainly generated the loss of points in the championship. Of course, Lando Norris has also made small mistakes, but despite that, this driver has proven to be worthy of this world title.
At this moment with only six more races and three sprint races, Lando Norris is only 52 points behind Verstappen. A situation that can change if the British driver achieves the greatest number of points and no strategic or driver-specific errors are made. But there are still many possibilities of taking the title from Verstappen hands.
