Stay informed on all the biggest stories in Formula One . Sign up here to receive the Prime Tire newsletter in your inbox every Monday and Friday. LAS VEGAS — After Saturday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, Lando Norris didn’t give the appearance of someone struggling to accept that his chances of winning the Formula One world championship had slipped away.
This was no gut punch. Instead, many times he smiled and spoke optimistically about the lessons learned and why he thought he’d be better off for it in the long run. Advertisement Of course, Norris’ post-race outlook was aided by the harsh reality that it was always a longshot that he could catch Max Verstappen in the final three races.
A lot would have to go in his favor in Las Vegas, then in Qatar and the finale in Abu Dhabi, plus Verstappen would have to stumble in some fashion. That’s a whole lot that needed to go right. So it wasn’t all that disheartening to Norris that Verstappen was able, in the final hours of Saturday night, to clinch a fourth consecutive world championship .
The McLaren driver had essentially accepted his fate well before he arrived in Las Vegas. And as anticipated, the championship is officially over. Verstappen drove a smart race, minimizing risks and keeping the big picture in mind throughout, an approach that netted him a fifth-place result.
Meanwhile, Norris lacked the necessary speed in his McLaren to counter Verstappen. He finished a distant sixth. “Massive congrats to (Verstappen),�.