Lando Norris stated any hopes for him to chase down Max Verstappen and win this yr’s System 1 drivers’ championship had been “slightly far-fetched” as he accepted official honors for ending as runner-up.
Verstappen had a cushty lead after profitable seven of the primary 10 races this season, earlier than Norris threatened a problem because the Pink Bull driver went 10 races and not using a victory. Norris had lower the deficit to 47 factors — nonetheless almost two race victories — heading into the race weekend at Interlagos, however a Verstappen win within the moist all however ended the battle and Norris believes it wasn’t practical to count on him to overturn such an enormous margin.
“I used to be by no means shut sufficient to Max,” Norris stated on the FIA Prize Giving in Rwanda. “I believe if anybody thought I used to be going to get it, that was most likely slightly far-fetched. However on the identical time, we tried for so long as doable — I attempted.”
Norris received the ultimate spherical in Abu Dhabi to safe the constructors’ championship for McLaren, and CEO Zak Brown says each he and teammate Oscar Piastri had been central to that achievement.
“Andrea has achieved an unbelievable job main this racing staff, we’ve got two superior racing drivers, as we’ve stated from the phrase go, and all of the women and men at McLaren have achieved a beautiful job,” Brown stated.
“I believe to go right down to the wire, in opposition to Ferrari — in the event you had one staff to choose to go right down to the final lap with, Ferrari could be it — they usually did an unbelievable job. They stored us trustworthy the entire manner by means of.”
From Stella’s perspective, a primary constructors’ championship success as a staff principal is a brand new expertise after being a part of the Ferrari dominance of the mid-2000s.
“It’s totally different from many factors of view,” Stella stated. “It’s totally different as a result of this championship means taking McLaren to success after 26 years. So, a very long time with out celebrations.
“It’s totally different for me personally — a totally totally different position — and it’s totally different as a result of it’s unprecedented how quickly we advanced from being final final yr after the primary couple of races. We had zero factors, final within the classification, and now 666 and world champions.”
