'It Will Be McLaren's Fault' If Norris Doesn't Win Championship Title Says Villeneuve

Friday, 27 September 2024 at 21:00

Jacques Villeneuve asserted that the McLaren team would be to blame if Lando Norris missed the F1 Drivers' Championship title by a few points.

With nine races (including sprints) to go before the end of the season, McLaren driver Lando Norris still needs to close the gap of 52 points to Max Verstappen if he wants to win the Drivers' Championship title.

The 24-year-old has outperformed Verstappen five times in the last six races, which suggests he's on the right trajectory. However, ideally, he needs to win all the remaining races to close the gap, and Red Bull Racing isn't standing still.

The Milton Keynes team is preparing a significant upgrade for the upcoming race in Austin that should eliminate all the biggest problems Verstappen and his teammate Sergio Perez currently struggle with.

The 1997 Champion Jacques Villeneuve believes this battle between Verstappen and Norris will go down to the wire. He told Marca:

"It just needs a bit more from Lando Norris to be more competitive, but it will be a fun end to the season. It will be very close between Max and Lando."

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The 2016 Champion, Nico Rosberg, said it is possible for Norris to win every remaining race after his performance in Singapore.

However, Villeneuve points out McLaren has already made too many mistakes, and if Norris now misses the Championship by a few points, it won't be his fault.

"Max has changed his approach. He is not trying to win races, but just to rack up points. That shows maturity. The championship is more important than winning individual races."

"He knows that McLaren is not making the tough decisions that it should, and that will be in his favour. If Lando is not champion it will be McLaren’s fault, not his."

"McLaren have made a mess of things and it’s too late now. It started in Hungary, they have shown real weakness by not giving priority to Norris over Piastri, but we don’t know what Oscar’s contract says."