Lando Norris needs to win in Las Vegas – but not for the World Championship

Lando Norris needs to win in Las Vegas, not for the championship as “there’s no changing that”, but for his self-confidence which would’ve taken a blow in Brazil.

Having won the Sprint in Brazil where Max Verstappen was demoted to fourth for a Virtual Safety Car infringement, Norris lined up for the 71-lap rand Prix holding all of the cards.

Lando Norris needs ‘success’ in Las Vegas says former F1 driver

Not only had he reduced Verstappen’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 44 points, but he was on pole position with the Red Bull driver down in 17th place.

What started as a perfect opportunity turned to frustration.

McLaren pitted Norris for a fresh set of intermediate tyres only for the Safety Car to come out four laps later when Franco Colapinto binned his Williams.

Momentum shifted to Verstappen who, along with the Alpine team-mates, was gifted a free pit stop for new tyres and lined up second, in the middle of the Alpine sandwich, with Norris fourth.

Verstappen made short work of passing Esteban Ocon to win the Grand Prix, but two mistakes from Norris dropped him to sixth place. Instead of making further inroads into Verstappen’s advantage, Norris trails him by 62 points.

That’s the championship done says former F1 driver Christian Danner.

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“Verstappen will be World Champion,” he told ServusTV. “I’ve made up my mind on that. There’s no changing that.”

But it may not be signed and sealed in Las Vegas as aside from if he wins the race, Verstappen will only wrap up the title if Norris doesn’t outscore him by three or more points.

Danner is interested to see if the McLaren driver can rise to the challenge as his mistakes in Brazil were “not perfect for self-confidence.

“There is only one way for a racing driver to overcome insecurities, and that is success. But if you get beaten in a case like that, your mental strength is quickly gone.

“I’m excited to see how he handles it. As soon as he wins again, everything will be fine again. But there were a lot of mistakes.”

His fellow pundit Christian Klien agrees that Norris did “not execute as he should have if he really wanted to compete for the World Championship.

“Mistakes happen quickly. We know that. But the really good drivers are less likely to make mistakes, and that is simply the case with Max. He gets the most out of difficult races. That shows a driver’s talent.”

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