Lando Norris has warned Max Verstappen that the United States Grand Prix weekend should be better for him than Singapore.
Norris won the final race by almost 21 seconds, but the Dutchman finished second and the Briton was only able to reduce his championship deficit by seven points.
Norris and Verstappen are set to face each other over the remaining six Grand Prix weekends. Norris has a 52-point gap to close. The Briton returns to the 2023 edition in Austin to give himself confidence.
“Our team is in a good rhythm. The confidence is still as high as it was in Singapore. Probably more, I would say. If you look at where we were last year here in Austin, compared to the car we had, for Compared to where we were in Singapore, I think this weekend was better for us. We led the first half of the race. I know some things were mixed up due to different scenarios, but it was a good one. have a nice weekend here.”
“Some things have changed again on this track with a new surface, less bumps, and part of the layout has changed a little, so we still have questions that we need to answer. But compared to last year, with our performance over the last three, four, five races, I think we’re confident all around that we should be towards the top.”
But Norris knows he is in trouble in the drivers’ championship and has reiterated that he needs help.
“It can work out in my favor. It can work out in Max’s favor. So I just stay focused on what I’m doing. I’ve done a good job. I’m happy with the way things have gone. I don’t I haven’t always been happy with the end result for different reasons. But I’m happy with what we’re doing as a team and how we’re working together. I’m confident that if we keep our heads down and keep pushing. we can get there and close the gap But it’s not easy It takes more than just me first and Max second, but I can’t change Max’s result For the others, for Oscar. help.”
Norris also reacted to the fact that Red Bull was asked by the FIA to do without a device that allowed its ride height to be adjusted from the cockpit. Red Bull assures that it has never used it in closed park conditions and has given guarantees to the FIA for the future.
Good news for McLaren?
“It’s one thing to have this device on your car, it’s another to use it, so if it helped them, if they used it the way people think, then maybe that it will change in our direction But when we talk about things like that, it’s not several pole positions or victories that are at stake just because of such a device.
“So I don’t think it’s really going to change anything in the scheme of things. Whether they used it or not. Maybe in some qualifiers that were decided on thousandths or hundredths, maybe be that it helped in this or that direction.”
“We don’t know but I think it’s a good thing that the FIA is doing such a thing. There is a difference between black and white things like this, and there is a difference between Formula 1 and pushing the boundaries, creating new things and innovating in the space that you’re allowed to innovate. I think that’s what we’ve done at McLaren, and we’ve done very well. work, but we showed that we should not go further than that.
