Lando Norris may have seen the Driver’s Championship whisked away by the storm that hit Sao Paulo last weekend, but it can’t be forgotten that McLaren remain firmly in the driver’s seat in the race for the Constructor’s Championship.
Embed from Getty ImagesBy just reading the headlines after Sunday’s wet weather race, you would assume Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri were on a run of poor results and were languishing in midtable driving cars as fast as a hearse.
The truth of course, is that Norris had won the weekend’s sprint race only the day before, adding to his three Grand Prix wins over the course of the season, while his Papaya team are the favourites to win the Constructor’s Championship, further highlighting the monumental progress the team has made as a whole this year.
The Brazilian Grand Prix was certainly a low point for Norris, who saw his pole start drop very quickly to a sixth place finish while he watched his title rival Max Verstappen claim victory from all the way down at 17th on the grid. Norris now trails the Dutchman by 62 points and it looks unlikely he will be able to catch the three-time world champion. The poor weather conditions made for a chaotic race that saw five drivers fail to even finish the event.
Embed from Getty ImagesBut while the impression might be that it’s all doom and gloom for Norris, the reality is that he already has over 100 more points than he finished last season, and whether he finishes second or third, he can be confident in the fact that his team are the best performing outfit in world racing right now.
Oscar Piastri has seen a massive improvement in his performances this year with 262 points already, compared to last years total of 97, while also seeing his first two wins come this year.
Between the two driver’s improving hugely over the last year, and Red Bull racing losing their highly credited Technical Director Adrian Newey, McLaren are massive favourites to end the spell of dominance from Red Bull and possibly even look to create their own.
Embed from Getty ImagesWhen asked after Brazil about their chances in both championships, McLaren boss Andrea Stella told Sky:
“In terms of the constructors’, it doesn’t change anything and that was always our priority. Even when there was a call to be made to support one driver over the other, it was always secondary to maximising the constructors’ championship.
“I think for Lando, for Oscar, we will go to the next races and try and win the races. The last two races should be good, for Vegas it might be more of a Ferrari track, we will see but all to play for and the constructors’ remains and has always been our priority.”
McLaren sit 36 points clear of Ferrari in the Constructor’s Championship and if they can put up strong performances in Las Vegas and Qatar, they might just be able to clinch the title before the final outing in Abu Dhabi.
