Lando Norris’s championship probabilities by no means recovered from the setback they suffered early within the season when McLaren’s automotive was much less aggressive, says crew principal Andrea Stella.
Max Verstappen clinched the title in Las Vegas final weekend with two rounds to spare, having constructed up a 63-point lead over Norris, his closest championship rival.
Norris misplaced 53 factors to Verstappen over the primary six rounds alone. McLaren launched a major improve for the MCL38 at that spherical in Miami, the place Norris claimed the primary victory of his profession. Regardless of closing to inside 44 factors of Verstappen at one stage, he was unable to forestall his rival taking the championship.
Stella praised Verstappen, saying he deserves a spot amongst F1’s biggest champions. “He’s a unbelievable driver, among the best within the historical past of Components 1,” the McLaren boss instructed Viaplay.
“He’s been so constant this season, even when the automotive wasn’t one of the best automotive. A really deserved champion in 2024 in Max Verstappen. Congratulations to him and congratulations to Pink Bull who supported Max on this quest.”
However Stella believes each his drivers have the potential to win the championship sooner or later, if their automotive is aggressive sufficient throughout the entire season.
“We’re proud that we tried to contend the championship with Lando. We tried till we may. We misplaced too many factors initially of the season as a result of the automotive wasn’t aggressive sufficient.”
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Norris has scored factors in each grand prix this yr aside from on the Pink Bull Ring, the place he was categorized twentieth after stopping within the pits with harm following a collision with Verstappen. His next-lowest end, eighth place, got here on the second spherical in Jeddah.
“After we acquired in with aggressive materials from a automotive standpoint, truly, we stayed on an analogous trajectory as Max, confirming that now we have the fabric that may compete for the drivers’ world championship within the automotive,” Stella continued.
“Above all, now we have a driver that may compete for the drivers’ world championship in Lando, and positively sooner or later in Oscar [Piastri].”
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