Close, as the old saying goes, Norris Ready only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades. Being close to taking the checkered flag first does nothing at all for a driver in the fast-paced world of Formula 1 racing.
Certainly, when it comes to rising stars in F1, no driver is shining more brightly than that of McLaren driver Lando Norris. However, glowing with potential is still far from basking in glory.
It’s been a season of gains for Norris on the F1 circuit during the 2024 season. Already, he has recorded the first Grand Prix win of his F1 career. He took the first two poles during his F1 racing days.
Still, when it comes to wagering on Formula 1 Racing at the best Formula 1 betting sites, the smart money remains on Max Verstappen, and with good reason. The Red Bull driver has won the past three F1 world titles and through the Spanish Grand Prix, is showing a 69-point advantage on his nearest rival in the driver standings for 2024.
That nearest rival happens to be Norris, and many prominent people in the F1 sphere believe that he will ultimately be the next driver to come up and challenge Verstappen for F1 supremacy.
Norris Taking Forward Steps
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Can Lando Norris unseat Max Verstappen as king among F1 drivers? (Photo by Jen Ross. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).
It was Norris who started on the pole for the Spanish Grand Prix, but a driving error on the first lap cost him two places on the grid and ultimately, the race, as Verstappen won for the seventh time in 10 races.
Norris would wind up second – his fourth runner-up finish of the season – but that was hardly solace for the British driver. That, in itself, could be considered a positive sign. He’s no longer happy just to be in contention, or in the conversation as one of the contenders. Norris recognizes he is behind the wheel of a car capable of running up front.
“We should have won,” Norris said after the race. “We had the quickest car.
“I quite easily had the best car there. I just didn’t do enough job off line. That one thing cost me everything.”
Even Verstappen was willing to acknowledge that fact. “Lando and McLaren were very, very fast,” Verstappen said. “We drove an aggressive strategy but it played out at the end.”
Norris was also second to Verstappen in the previous F1 race, the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal. The Brit recorded his first-ever F1 victory at Miami in May.
Norris is now also number two on the year. For the season, Verstappen has 219 points. Norris moved into second place with 150, overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who has 148 points after finishing fifth in the Spanish Grand Prix.
If there is a silver lining, it’s that Verstappen’s margin of victory in Span was barely two seconds. Earlier in the season, the Dutchman was winning races by 20-plus seconds.
Schumacher Sees Norris Closing Gap
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher is among those in the sport who are viewing Norris as F1’s next great driver. He looks at the recent performances by the British driver – the win in Miami, the back-to-back runner-up finishes in the last two races and his second career pole in Spain – as indications of the growing stature of Norris in F1 circles.
“If McLaren continue this trend, Lando Norris can compete for the world championship,” Sky Sports analyst Schumacher told F1 Insider.
Even Verstappen can see that the challengers like Norris are beginning to nip at his rear tires, and this is of concern to him.
“The other teams are catching up,” Verstappen said. “We’ve seen that for a few races now. It’s getting more difficult.
“We have to get everything perfect to be first. We Norris Ready simply have to get more performance out of the car.”
Norris does believe he has the car to give Verstappen a run for the money and ultimately battle for a world driving title.
“I mean, I think so, I think … I should have done better (in Spain),” Norris told ESPN. “But Max needs to stop winning in order to achieve that.
“Potentially there was a chance to beat him in Canada, so two races that I finished second and he’s won. We should have got some points back on Max.”
Norris His Own Harshest Critic
Norris doesn’t need anyone to tell him when he’s messed up. One thing about the British driver is that he’s always been the first one to call himself out when his mistakes are costing his team places on the grid and in the end, victories.
“If I just made some better decisions in Canada, and if I had a better start (in Spain), we would have won two races,” Norris said. “I know there’s always been a lot of shoulda, woulda, couldas, but we have what it takes. It’s just about putting it all together.”
Norris is also choosing to channel his inner Ricky Bobby. As far as he’s concerned, if you’re not first, you’re last.
“Even though I’ve moved into second in Norris Ready the championship, that doesn’t matter,” Norris said. “I couldn’t care if I was second or tenth. It’s more about the gap to what Max is, and he’s still extending it.
“That’s something that we can’t afford to do or can’t afford to let him run away with it at this point of the season.”
McLaren team boss Andreas Stella Norris Ready likes that Norris is always demanding more of himself and thinks that it will eventually be what puts McLaren and Norris on top of F1.
“We don’t overreact to the style of Lando being tough on himself,” Stella said. “Certainly I’m sure this is something he will keep fine tuning over the years.
“But from Lando’s point of view, he drove very well the entire weekend (in Spain), and if he is upset for a P2, finishing two seconds from Max, then this is really good news for everyone, including Formula One, as it means we have races and with little details, like defending your pole position, we can have different winners than Max.”
