Lando Norris officially conceded his last chances of a world title in Las Vegas with a sixth place finish, behind Max Verstappen who won his fourth consecutive crown. The McLaren F1 driver praised his rival and his performance.
“Max deserved to win, he had a better season than me, he deserved it more than anyone else, Max simply has no weakness. When he has the best car he dominates and when he doesn’t have the best car, he’s still there” Norris said.
“Congratulations to him so, even if it hurts a little, saying congratulations doesn’t hurt, but knowing that the championship is not 100% finished always gives you a little hope. He’s had an incredible season “He made my life difficult, we made his life difficult at times, I’m sure, but he had a better season.”
Commenting on his own result, the Briton admits that the Las Vegas weekend was very difficult: “The race was quite difficult, the pace was bad, the grip, the tire management, it was just a bad weekend from us.”
Asked about the rumors and controversies surrounding McLaren, starting with the Baku rear wing and recent allegations that McLaren put water in its tires to manage them better, Norris got annoyed.
“No, everyone can say what they want. The wing made a small difference, much less than everyone thinks, it has nothing to do with that. And the other controversy is just anything !”
Oscar Piastri was penalized for stopping too far forward in his grid position. But the Australian driver, who finished seventh while being isolated far behind his teammate, does not see this as a determining fact of his race.
“I didn’t think I was that far ahead, but I don’t think it changed much. The middle of the race was difficult but it didn’t change anything, we just weren’t fast enough in the race ” said Piastri, who is however satisfied to limit the damage against Ferrari.
“We knew it would be a difficult circuit for us and we expected Ferrari to be strong. It’s not ideal that they took points away from us, but it could have been worse. It’s going to be close between us but I’m hopeful that we’ll have a good weekend in Qatar.”
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