INTERVIEW: Lando Norris knows consistency is key for a championship challenge

At the 110^th time of asking in his Formula 1 career, Norris finally won a race, a landmark achievement that was a long time coming, but very much deserved for all the hard work he had put in up until that point, and the patience he also had to exercise in waiting for McLaren to provide him with a car to match his exceptional talent.

Following that triumph in Miami, the notion of mounting a championship challenge to Red Bull's Max Verstappen was arguably fanciful, even though there was only a 53-point deficit.

Verstappen, though, was again dominating. Although runner-up to Norris on that occasion, he had won four of the previous five grands prix, as well as both sprints, and there was no reason to suggest it was going to be anything other than a stroll to a fourth consecutive drivers' title.

Since then, however, the season has undergone an astonishing transformation as Red Bull and Verstappen have lost the cutting edge with which they took swathes out of their rivals in the previous two years.

McLaren has thrust itself to within 42 points of Red Bull in the constructors' standings, whilst Mercedes has rediscovered its development mojo to win three of the last four races, although its wretched start to the year means it is too far back to thrust itself into the reckoning.

For Norris, given the upward curve of McLaren, that Miami win remarkably remains his only one to date. Chances have come and gone, and he knows it, too. That 53-point gap has somehow increased to 78 over the last eight races.

For the most part, he can have no complaints. "The season so far has probably been a better season than I had last year, and I'm not talking from a performance point of view," he said, speaking in an interview with this writer.

"Do I feel like I've delivered more often in qualifying and races? I think yes. Statistically, that's also true. I feel more comfortable with the car than last year. There were times when I questioned how I needed to drive the car and in what way, and the driving style needed, and that kind of thing.

"Whether or not I've been with McLaren for five, six years has relevance for certain things, but does it mean I could drive the car better last year? No. The car has been changing so much over the last year and a half, and I've had to adapt quite a bit on how to drive the car, and what driving style is needed.

"I struggled quite a bit through last year in maximising every qualifying, and the way I was driving was just not right. I feel like I'm doing a better job this year of understanding it, staying within the limitations of what I need to deliver on."

But then comes the crux as to why Norris still only has one win to his name, frustratingly finishing runner-up on four occasions since that lone success.

"From a race point of view, there have definitely been some moments that I wish I could rewind and wish I could do a little bit better," he said. "Probably not as many as you might think, but definitely certain ones. Probably like in Hungary, Canada, Silverstone I kind of had an opportunity to win."

In Canada, in changeable conditions, a split-second call on a pit stop arguably cost him; at Silverstone, Norris was in the mix, and but for fortune he may have taken the chequered flag, whilst Hungary was arguably more contentious given the situation that transpired between himself and team-mate Oscar Piastri.

In the last race in Belgium, where Norris was only fifth, a poor start cost him dearly, which has also been a key factor in some of his results.

And then there is Austria, and the biggest loss/swing of points in relation to Verstappen given their late-race collision when battling for the lead that sparked punctures for both, sending the Briton into retirement, whilst the Dutchman salvaged fifth.

Norris is adamant that he feels like "a much stronger driver this year than last year," which for him is "the most important." Yet he recognises if he is to have any hope of closing down Verstappen over the remaining 10 races, improvements have to be made.

"I would say there isn't a singular thing," he said. "It's consistency. I definitely think just cleaning up a few areas, like my starts that kind of thing.”

“It's not like I'm doing this wrong every time with my starts, or this wrong every time when I'm leading, and I really don't think it's got anything to do with pressure or being in a position I've not been in for a while. There have been different reasons almost every time, and it's just about bringing all of it together and tightening it up a touch. On 95 per cent of things, I feel like I'm in a good position.

"I know I've only won one race. I see a lot of people saying, 'Oh, he's only won one race', and that kind of thing. I won one race, but we're still in the fight.

"Sometimes it's not always about winning, as much as you always want it to be, but for the most part, I've been there – second, first, third, second, third, fourth, second, third. And that's also a big part of the championship. It's not just having one amazing race and going, 'We nailed that', and then having an absolute shocker the next one."

"What's been a bad weekend for us, and for me at the minute, it's been first, second, third, fourth, pretty much the whole time, and I'm pretty happy."

The need for those all-important, but almost unobtainable perfect weekends is now what is required, certainly as Norris puts it, "more than I have at the minute".Norris concedes he is "still in the fight", but there is a "need to improve that bit more in order to confidently say, 'I'm in with a chance'."

You can tell that on reflection there remain situations he looks back on with regret.

"At the minute, both from my side, in not having the best starts, and also from a team side, which I put more down to Canada, Silverstone, it's like four opportunities to score maybe 25 more points or something," he said.

"And as much as that's 25 more [for me], that's also 15 to 20 less for Max, so it's about cleaning up those and winning when I should basically."

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