Verstappen Doesn't Think Battle With Norris Will Get As Tense As It Did With Hamilton
F1Monday, 14 October 2024 at 18:00
Max Verstappen said the Championship title fight against Lando Norris will not get as tense as it did with Lewis Hamilton in 2021.
Helmut Marko recently stated that he was confident Red Bull Racing's driver Max Verstappen would add a fourth consecutive Drivers' Championship title to his collection this year.
Nine races (including 3 sprints) before the end of the season, the Dutchman has a 52-point lead over McLaren driver Lando Norris.
However, if things stay as they were in Singapore (Norris winning by more than 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen), Nico Rosberg warned the battle might become much tougher for the Dutchman.
With 52 point lead, Verstappen doesn't have to fight as aggressively and take big risks to finish one position higher every race as we've perhaps seen in 2021 in the battle against Lewis Hamilton, but that's for now.
But what if Norris managed to close the gap over the next 3-4 race weekends? Could we see some more intense battles between him and the Red Bull Racing driver like we did in Austria, where they collided?
Verstappen asserted he doesn't think this season can be compared to 2021. In an interview with Motorsport.com, the 27-year-old F1 driver explained:
"Yes, because right now we still have four teams at the front, while back then you just had the same two people up front."
In 2021, the fight was purely between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, whereas now, there are multiple drivers with real chances of winning at each Grand Prix. In fact, we've already seen seven different Grand Prix winners in 2024. Verstappen continued:
"Of course, 2021 was my first world championship, so that was very different already. I think I'm a bit more relaxed about it now."
"Of course, I want to win and of course, I'm going to do my best to defend that [52-point] lead. But the feeling is very different from 2021."
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