Lando Norris responds to Max Verstappen ‘threat’ as title decider beckons

Lando Norris said Max Verstappen has been treated as a threat for the entire season by McLaren, regardless of his championship position.

Verstappen has closed to within 12 points of Norris ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi this weekend, leaving the reigning champion with a mathematical chance of winning a fifth consecutive title.

Lando Norris: Max Verstappen has been ‘treated as a threat the whole year’

After the Dutch Grand Prix in August, Verstappen had sat 104 points behind then-championship leader, Oscar Piastri, but his gap to the top since then has gradually ebbed away over the final third of the season, to a point where he has a chance of leading the standings for the first time in 2025, at the only time it matters.

For Norris, he heads into the weekend knowing that a podium finish would guarantee him a first World Championship crown, despite a victory for Verstappen last weekend.

While the Red Bull driver’s rise in the standings has been steady in recent races, Norris has not been under any illusions about the challenge he will pose on track, because McLaren has never counted him out internally.

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“I mean, we’ve treated him as a threat the whole year, even when he was a few more points behind,” Norris explained to PlanetF1.com and other accredited media in Qatar.

“We always have our little team meetings, every single race we treat him as a threat, because we know what he’s capable of. We know what Red Bull is capable of. So therefore, nothing changes now, because he’s still the threat. He has always been through the whole year.

“Nothing changes from anyone’s side, you know, from engineers, mechanics, myself. We treat it very normally. There’s no point trying to treat him any differently, because we’ve been doing a good job, and I’m very happy with the job we’ve all been doing.

“We know what areas we need to do better. We know what things we need to improve on this year, next year, all of the standard stuff. So, I really try and not treat it any differently, because there’s no point. Nothing needs to be treated any differently.”

Norris heads into the weekend 12 points ahead of Verstappen, who in turn is four points ahead of Norris’ McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, making it a three-way battle for the title this weekend.

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