Lando Norris has emerged as Max Verstappen’s closest championship contender but the McLaren man has copped criticism from Red Bull boss Helmut Marko after seeing several wins evade him
Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has targeted Lando Norris, seemingly questioning his mental fortitude.
Marko’s criticism is directed at McLaren’s Norris, who is a major competitor to Max Verstappen in the championship. With McLaren currently holding the fastest car on the grid, Red Bull’s past dominance—which has led Verstappen to three consecutive titles—might be coming to an end as other teams close the gap.
Norris achieved his first win of the season in Miami and has consistently been in the mix for victories since, regularly finishing on the podium. He aims to narrow the gap to Verstappen with several races remaining.
McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri has also emerged as a significant contender, securing his first F1 victory in Hungary, where Norris was instructed to let Piastri take the lead. Marko now suggests that Piastri might soon surpass Norris, even as Verstappen continues to lead.
He told Sky Sports: “I’m not sure about the exact points gap between them, but it appears that Piastri is the more mentally resilient driver and is steadily closing the gap to Norris this season, showing superior speed in certain areas.
“We’ll see how this decision plays out.”
Norris recently missed an opportunity to close in on Verstappen despite dominating qualifying in Belgium. Even with Verstappen starting from a ten-place grid penalty, he managed to work his way through the field and finish ahead of Norris.
Marko remarked: “It was a significant achievement for Max to keep Norris behind him. Norris, on the other hand, went off the track twice during the race.”
Norris has expressed frustration over missed chances that have prevented him from securing race victories and narrowing the gap to Verstappen in the championship. It seems that poor strategic decisions have led to losses at Silverstone and Barcelona.
After finishing fifth at Spa, Norris commented, “From a team perspective, I’m really pleased. However, I feel that I’ve made a lot of mistakes in recent races and lost valuable points. I might need a bit of a reset and come back stronger.”
McLaren has discussed the potential of prioritizing Norris as the season progresses, especially if he starts to close the gap to Verstappen in the championship race.
CEO Zak Brown noted, “The challenge with the drivers is that Max’s ‘bad days’ are still second or third places, so it’s difficult to make up ground.”