Lando Norris It has become a machine for grabbing poles and throwing them in the trash. What happened this Sunday in the race of Italian Grand Prix It was the straw that broke the camel’s back and made many fans realise what a nervous wreck the Briton is today. A driver who has the best possible car to win the Worldbut to which the distance still great with Max Verstappen It burns him mentally with every test.
It is true that McLaren He made a strategic error in not allowing Norris to surpass himself Oscar Piastri after being overtaken by the Australian and by Charles Leclerc at the start, which forced him to stop early in the pits. His return to the circuit was full of pace and despite everything, his teammate’s position in the team always prevailed. So much so that he even finished the race just ahead of him in second place.
All this is not to say that when things go well, Norris melts like a lump of sugar. Losing a pole at the first opportunity becomes a habit for him, because in monza This was the seventh time this had happened. The previous occasion was just over the weekend at Zandvoortwhere he managed to regain the top step and take victory after being overtaken by Verstappen at the start.
The one before Dutch GP This happened before the summer break, when it was Piastri himself who destroyed him from the start to finally take his first victory in the championship. Formula 1. And the other two previous ones of this World Cup are in the race of the Spanish GPWhen George Russell he ate the toast, and in the sprint of the Chinese GP. Lewis Hamilton It was on this occasion that he took over from him.
Norris ends up sunk at Monza
It is easy to explain what is happening to Norris. And the nervousness when he is so close and has such a level of car to become world champion plays tricks on him every time he occupies the most privileged position on the grid. This Sunday, he only managed to grab seven points from Verstappen and an additional one for the fastest lap, but the bite could have been even bigger, exactly 14 points, so the podium had a very bitter taste for him.
That’s why Norris’s gesture at the end of the race was that of a dejected driver, deeply hurt by a lost opportunity to close in on the leader and three-time world champion ahead of the final eight races of the calendar. The Briton laid all the blame on McLaren afterwards: “I’m here to win the championship, but I’m not going to beg to swap positions either, that’s not who I am and I don’t want to win a championship. This way.”
“If you keep going like this, will you lose the World Cups?” they asked Norris. His response was forceful: “Ask them, it’s not about me, it’s all about the team,” he said, taking a dig at his own team. This nervousness does not do Red Bull and especially Verstappen, who, even in the worst moments of recent times, is on the verge of saving the day and emerging victorious in 2024.
