McLaren boss Zak Brown is convinced Lando Norris has a car capable of overturning Max Verstappen’s sizeable lead and can make a title fight out of the 2024 season.
Norris beat Verstappen by a comfortable 22 seconds at the Dutch Grand Prix, a bigger winning margin than any of the Dutchman’s dominant victories at the start of the season.
The result cut Verstappen’s lead to 70 points with nine races left and confirmed McLaren now should go into every round as a favourite to win.
“That was a good day at the office,” Brown told SiriusXM. “An impressive performance by everybody. Lando was perfect, team strategy, pace of the car.”
He added: “I thought we had great pace, 23 seconds or whatever it was, no I didn’t think it was going to be that, but that was great to see. Yeah we’ve thought for a few races … but it’s going to take a while. We’ve got to keep doing what we’re doing, and it’s going to be tight. But it’s game on.”
Verstappen’s lead means he could fail to finish at the next two races and still lead by at least 18 points, with Norris able to score a maximum of 26 points a weekend.
After the win at Zandvoort, Norris himself said it would “stupid” for McLaren to get too carried away with victory, but added that he’s always viewed himself as a championship contender this season anyway.
The Netherlands victory was his second in F1, adding to the Miami Grand Prix in May, and ended a frustrating run of squandered opportunities in the months since.
On the flip side Verstappen, who won four of the opening five races of the season at a canter, has not tasted victory since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23 — five races ago.
It marks Verstappen’s longest winless streak since the 2020 season.