Doha (AFP) – Lando Norris insisted Thursday he was feeling calm and composed ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix where he could win his first drivers’ world championship title. Unperturbed by the double disqualification of himself and McLaren team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri in Las Vegas last weekend, the 26-year-old Briton told reporters he was completely at ease ahead of this weekend’s showdown.
“I feel as relaxed now as I was before when I was 35 points behind and I feel the same when I’m 24 points ahead,” Norris said. “For now, that’s my strength. It feels the same to me now as before Mexico when I wasn’t leading and in Austin.” Norris, who needs only to out-score Piastri and defending four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull by two points to win the title this weekend, made light of the pressures of expectation and the Dutchman’s fightback.
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“We’ve treated him as a threat the whole year even when he was a few more points behind,” he said of Verstappen, who was 104 points behind in the title race at the end of August, but is now level with Piastri — 24 behind Norris. “We treat him as a threat because we know what he’s capable of, we know what Red Bull is capable of — so therefore nothing changes now because he’s still the threat he’s always been through the whole year.”
Norris conceded that his disqualification in Las Vegas had hurt, but said he and the team had dealt with it and moved on. “We all felt let down by the result and we were all disappointed, but actually I found it was quite easy to move on and have a few days off -– and then come into this weekend,” he explained.
Piastri appeared to be equally calm, but made it very clear that as things stood he had no intention of abandoning his own bid for glory in favour of helping his McLaren team-mate. “We’ve had a very brief discussion on it and the answer is no,” the Australian said. “I’m still equal on points with Max and I’ve got a decent shot of still winning it if things go my way. So, yeah, that’s how we’ll play it.”
McLaren team chief Andrea Stella explained that the disqualification of both cars, for excessive wear of the skid blocks, was a result of an unexpected level of “porpoising…exacerbated by the conditions” in Nevada.
“We knew we were having a lot more issues than we ever expected during the race,” Norris said. “Maybe it would have hurt more if we won the race, but we didn’t so it doesn’t change anything… There’s no point being too sad about it. I’m excited to go again this weekend. It doesn’t change anything. I want to try and win here in Qatar and to win in Abu Dhabi. It sucks, but that’s life sometimes.”
© 2024 AFP
