Max Verstappen believes Lando Norris must keep working hard and move past the frustration of his Dutch Grand Prix retirement if he is to remain in the Formula 1 title fight.
Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri have battled fiercely for the Drivers’ Championship this year, separated by only nine points heading into Zandvoort.
On Sunday, Norris shadowed his teammate for much of the race until a late mechanical issue forced him to retire. With Piastri taking his seventh win of the season, Norris has slipped 34 points behind in the standings, with nine races left.
Verstappen on Handling Title Pressure
After securing second place at his home event, Verstappen reflected on his own experiences of bouncing back from setbacks in 2021 when he fought Lewis Hamilton. “I mean, it’s out of your control. So, you just need to keep working hard, keep trying to win,” said Verstappen.
“As simple as that. Especially when you are team mates, you have the same car, same opportunities. It’s probably a little bit more complicated than when it’s two different teams, but still a lot of races and you can see things can swing. You don’t know if you [will] get a mechanical failure or not, it’s out of your control. So yes, it’s not ideal, but there are enough races to either turn it around or not, and time will tell.”
Norris vs Piastri: The Battle Continues
Piastri has scored points in all 15 races so far, showing consistency in his title push. He still recalls his mistake at the season opener in Melbourne when he spun off in the rain.
“I need to keep pushing and try to win,” said Piastri. “I wouldn’t say it’s a very comfortable margin, as we saw today, it can change with one DNF very, very quickly so this far out from the end of the year, it’s not a comfortable gap.”
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