- Lando Norris has been given number one status by McLaren in a bid for the title
- People have questioned his mentality after a series of missed opportunities
- He would sacrifice being ‘big buddies’ if it meant clinching the F1 championship
Lando Norris was asked: ‘Would you rather finish the season having beaten Max Verstappen or remaining big buddies, if it had to be one or other?’
The Briton’s response came as fast as a flash: ‘Oh, no – I want to beat him.’
Norris then launched into an impassioned defence of his world championship approach, betraying frustration at those who have doubted his mettle.
Woven into his answers, he provided as revealing an insight as he ever has into why he admires the Dutchman who is protecting a wobbly 62-point lead coming into the final eight rounds of the season, starting in Azerbaijan this weekend.
‘The way I get on with Max off the track has nothing to do with on track,’ says Norris, in full flood. ‘Normally the drivers I get on with better are those I want to beat more. And vice versa.
Lando Norris insisted winning the F1 title is above preserving his friendship with Verstappen
The new McLaren number one has seen his mentality and killer instinct questioned this year
‘There is nothing in it. People can say what they like. I don’t honestly care. But it is clear he wants to beat me, and I want to beat him. We are fighting for a world championship. On and off track are two completely different worlds.
‘This has nothing to do with my mentality, how I work with my engineers, my approach to the weekend.
‘The only thing that correlates between on and off the track is the respect I have for Max. That is true in my personal relationship and to racing.
‘But when you are on track you are not friends. You are enemies.’
So what precisely does Norris admire about his pal, who at 26 is two years the elder?
‘His honesty,’ he continues. ‘The no-bull**** mentality. I like that from the people I work with, especially when you come into Formula One people tell you what you want to hear, saying the wrong thing to make you feel good. That’s the last thing you need.
‘People should say they hate it if they hate it. Or they love it if they love it. Too many people don’t. I don’t have a lot of time for them.
‘Max is the opposite of that. He is himself and says exactly what he thinks.’
Norris and Max Verstappen have had heated moments this year but maintain a good friendship
What Max has been thinking recently is that he might relinquish his world title with 232 points still available. For his Red Bull is shorn of its former rocket-ship status while Norris is driving the McLaren that has been the pick of the grid for the last few weeks, though he was only 17th best in practice yesterday.
Verstappen realises his lead might be even more brittle – by up to 17 points – had McLaren favoured Norris in Hungary in July and in Monza a fortnight ago rather than split their love between him and team-mate Oscar Piastri.
They have rethought this even-handedness since returning from Italy. Piastri is freshly under beefed-up instructions to bend in certain circumstances to Norris’s needs, without subjugating himself totally.
Is the call not a little belated? Norris is strident again, saying. ‘It’s easy for people to come up with a different opinion. Andrea (Stella, team principal) takes everything into account. He will never skip anything, which is what a lot of people are doing.’
Norris is adamant he does not want to be handed the title. But what if it’s the final lap in Abu Dhabi, he needs an extra seven points, he lies second, and Piastri leads? What then? Is that situation addressed in the new rules of engagement?
‘All of these (scenarios are),’ he reveals. ‘But we review it every race, every two races.’
