Lando Norris snubs easy F1 title path with bold Max Verstappen warning | F1 | Sport
Lando Norris wants to be crowned Formula 1 champion in style on Sunday and insists he will do everything he can to win the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Brit is 12 points ahead of Max Verstappen heading into today’s showdown but will start second behind the pole-sitting Red Bull racer.
Cruising to the podium will be enough for Norris, 26, to be crowned champion for the first time, but the Brit is determined to win both the battle and the war. He said: “I’m disappointed not to be on pole. Max did a good job so congratulations to him. The goal is still to try to win the race tomorrow.
“That’s still our mindset. I thought my lap was pretty good. I’m disappointed not to be on pole but we were not fast enough. It’s definitely not going to be a simple one, by any means – it might be the most complicated race I might have. But the mindset is still, ‘How can we win the race?’ That’s going to be the approach.”
Though Norris did make it clear that he knows he can still achieve his ultimate goal even if the victory on the day is beyond him. The Brit added: “I don’t need to take any risks and hopefully I can use that to my advantage.”
Verstappen, 28, knows things are still out of his hands and that he needs a helping hand from at least two other drivers to knock Norris down the order. All he can do is score maximum points to give himself the best chance and the Dutchman is delighted with his efforts so far.
“Let’s f*****g go!” he yelled on the radio after pole position was confirmed. And after getting out of the car he added: “I’m incredibly happy to be in first. That’s the only thing that we can do, right? That’s the only thing that we can control. I’ll just try to just maximise everything we have and then do what we can with the car. We definitely did that in qualifying.”
For Norris, starting behind Verstappen at least removes the risk of the four-time champ dive-bombing into turn one today. But he still has his team-mate to think about with Oscar Piastri needing to get past his McLaren team-mate on lap one to have anything resembling a realistic chance of the title.
Of the three, he was by far the most guarded when speaking about his plans. The Aussie, 24, said: “Obviously, to try to win the championship, I need more than to just win the race. We’ll see what that entails.”
