Lando Norris not 'in the title fight yet' against Max Verstappen despite fastest car claims fellow F1 racer
Haas F1 driver Nico Hulkenberg believed it wasn't a 'title fight yet' between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris despite McLaren's newfound upturn in performances. Ever since the Miami Grand Prix earlier in the season, Lando Norris has been the closest challenger to Verstappen in terms of performance and results.
Although Norris hasn't maximized his weekends, he trails the three-time world champion by 62 points with eight races and three Sprints remaining in arguably the better car right now.
Hulkenberg, while noting McLaren's impressive performances of late, remarked that the Dutch driver still held a 'comfortable lead' over his title rival. Hulkenberg said (via "PlanetF1"):
“Obviously, I should say McLaren has managed kind of to turn things around. They’re the fastest car on the grid right now. The ones to beat. But Max is in quite a comfortable lead still points-wise, so it’s not really I think the title fight yet,” Hulkenberg said.
Max Verstappen had recently claimed that securing both the Constructor's and the Driver's Championships were unrealistic expectations, given their issues with the RB20. However, Lando Norris was quick to refute the three-time world champion and said (via the aforementioned source):
“That is just Max saying what he wants. He is still leading by 60-odd points. I have eight races to catch 60-something points and it is not easy to do that even if I win every race, it’s still not an easy thing to achieve. He is the one in a better position," Norris said.
Lando Norris's title bid could be further hampered during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix this weekend given his poor showing in the qualifying on Saturday.
Lando Norris previews the main race on Sunday in Baku
McLaren driver Lando Norris said that overtaking at the Baku City Circuit 'won't be easy' despite having a car advantage over his rivals around him.
Speaking to F1.com after the qualifying session, the 24-year-old said:
“Yeah, but I don’t even think it’s as easy as that, honestly. Following is pretty much impossible around here and overtaking is I think a lot worse than what everyone thinks. I hope I’m wrong, of course. I hope there’s plenty of chances, but I’m not expecting so," he said.
The British driver, talking about the overtaking opportunities on the narrow sectors of the track, said that there wasn't much possibility of overtaking other cars with low downforce. Norris further said that he wasn't expecting too much from the race, especially after a P17 finish in the qualifying.
Norris, however, will start the race from P16 after Pierre Gasly, who qualified P13, was disqualified by the FIA after they found fuel irregularities with his Alpine at the end of the qualifying session on Saturday.