Norris 'proud' of valiant effort but F1 title lost early on
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As the 2024 Formula 1 season reaches its glittering climax in Las Vegas, Lando Norris has embraced both pride and realism.
While the McLaren driver has brought the championship fight into the late stages of the season, he acknowledges that his chances of succeeding reigning world champion Max Verstappen were effectively dashed in the early rounds of F1's campaign.
With Verstappen leading the championship by 62 points, Norris faces a near-impossible task: to win every remaining race and hope his Red Bull rival scores none.
After qualifying sixth for Saturday night's Las Vegas Grand Prix, one spot behind Verstappen, Norris was philosophical about his title aspirations.
"I mean, whether he wins or not tomorrow, for me it's not going to change anything," said Norris.
"He's pretty likely to win the championship, but I'm here to race and do my best in every single race I can, whether Max finishes ahead or not, that's life. He's only just ahead of us today."
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Despite the long odds, Norris remains focused on delivering a strong performance.
"I think we have a chance to beat them tomorrow, but I'll go out and do my best like I do in every single race. And whatever the outcome is, the outcome is," he said.
For Norris, the journey itself has been a source of immense pride. While Verstappen's early dominance made the title battle an uphill climb, Norris takes solace in being the driver closest to the Red Bull star.
"[I'm proud], of course. I mean, I'm the one there fighting Max. So I'm proud that it's me and not anyone else," he stated.
"Do I wish it could have gone a bit further down the line? Sure. But the race [for the title] was lost in the first six races of the year. That's when Max dominated, when Red Bull were too far ahead and points got to a gap which was just too difficult to claw back.
"So I'm proud. I'm happy we brought it as far, and it's us, no one else."
With the drivers' championship all but decided, Norris's focus shifts to maintaining McLaren's lead over Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship.
The Woking-based outfit currently holds a 36-point advantage, but it's still all to play for between the two and even Red Bull which sits just 13 points behind the Scuderia.
"At the minute, [hoping to beat Ferrari is] what you would say. It could be that tomorrow, we put on the hard tyre, and things come our way a little bit," Norris explained.
McLaren's Achilles' heel this season has been tyre management, particularly with softer compounds. Norris elaborated on the challenge.
"Every race this year, we struggled with graining. We've not been good on the softer tyres. That's the same now, but it's almost the case in a quali lap, you almost start to grain the tyres already."
"We struggle a lot in these kind of conditions. So I'm hoping, when you put a medium on...they still grain very easily, but when you put the hard on, hopefully things click a little bit.
"It's just our weaknesses on how the car is with the front tyres. It's been an issue for a while. We've not been able to tackle as much as what I would have liked at this point. So we're paying the price for that kind of thing."
As he prepares for Sunday's race, Norris remains pragmatic about the challenges ahead.
"We'll be optimistic and we'll look ahead to what we can achieve," he concluded. "But, yeah, I don't expect anything magical for sure, but it's a long race."
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