Lando Norris investigation begins as Guenther Steiner spreads 'not fantastic' F1 2024 theory

McLaren driver Lando Norris only needed average performance and minimizing mistakes to beat Max Verstappen to the 2024 F1 title.

This is the view of former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, who believes NorrisRed Bull’s mistakes ultimately cost them dearly against reigning world champion Red Bull.

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Verstappen took a giant step towards the 2024 F1 title at last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, where he came from 17th on the grid to claim arguably the best victory of his career.

The Dutch driver holds a 62-point lead over Norris heading into the final three races in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi and is set to become only the second driver in F1 history after the Red icon Bull Sebastian Vettel to win his first four world championships. over successive years.

Norris showed frustration at the end of the race in Sao Paulo, after falling from pole position to sixth place at the checkered flag.

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Despite having the faster car at his disposal for much of F1 2024, Norris has failed to consistently establish himself in Verstappen’s advantage, winning only three times at Miami, the Netherlands and Singapore.

Norris’ temperament has also come under scrutiny after a series of poor starts, with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko recently referring to the 24-year-old’s perceived “mental weaknesses”.

Appearing on the Red flags podcast, Steiner claimed that with McLaren the class of the field, Norris only needed to be “just neutral” – consistently performing at a good level and a low error rate – to beat Verstappen in the World Championship This year.

Asked if Brazil had proven that Norris was not yet ready to become world champion, he replied: “You could see it.

“Let’s go back to Austin. What Max did, he took a chance and did what he did. Lando got the penalty.

“And then in Mexico, Max came back and did the same thing again because he pushes the limits and Lando doesn’t. I think that’s the difference between the two.

“In theory, Lando should win races. He should make a successful start. If he had made every start – if there’s a big if in that – then he would be the champion.

“But I always thought the car would make up for it.”

“And even though Max is the better driver, but because the McLaren is currently the better car if Lando was just neutral – without being fantastic but without making any mistakes – he (could have) won the championship. But obviously now he can’t take it anymore.

“If Max has an opportunity, he takes it all the time. What he did in Austin was challenge Lando, putting him in a position to make his mistake.

“Obviously the stewards helped do that, because if they had fined (Verstappen) there, he wouldn’t have done what he did in Mexico.”

After being criticized for recent incidents with Norris in Austin and Mexico, Steiner believes Verstappen ‘wanted to make a point’ after taking the lead from Alpine driver Esteban Ocon in Brazil, after which he produced a superb series of laps the fastest to finally win by 19.4 seconds.

He said: “I think the legendary moment was when Max took control of the race, when he passed Ocon and took off.

“There was nothing left for anyone. It was like showing who you are.

“Obviously he didn’t have to do it. I think he was having fun. Everything was fine.

“At that point he knew he was going to win the World Championship, so he wanted to make his point.”

Asked if Verstappen’s show of strength would have been demoralizing for his competitors, Steiner said it should encourage the likes of Norris to get the better of the Red Bull driver next time.

He added: “We have all been competitors.

“It’s not demoralizing. Some people aspire to that, they want to achieve that.

“It’s one of those things that, in the moment, is hard to accept because someone is showing you, ‘This is who I am.’

“But then he could build them up and say, ‘Next time I’m going to beat you.'”

Explaining that Verstappen’s rivals will study the on-board footage to understand why the Red Bull man was so dominant, he added: “Oh, yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.

“They analyze everything, everything will be analyzed: how did he do it? Because that’s how you learn it, how to get there yourself.

“You can’t ignore it, you have to watch it.

“Drivers watch it to see the line, how they do things and how to get there – because if you understand how they get there, that’s the only way to learn it, because you don’t don’t have the chance if you” I’m sitting there (wondering), “How did he do that? »

“The only way to understand it (is to look). There is so much information out there that you just have to skim through it.