Lando Norris’ Reaction to Max Verstappen Winning Brazil GP

Lando Norris believes his fellow championship rival Max Verstappen’s win in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix was “not talent, just luck” as the Red Bull driver managed to come back from being in 17th place to win for the first time since June.

Norris blamed a certain rule which came into play during the race which he suggested helped the Dutchman on his way to victory. The Englishman had been leading the race, until things took a turn on lap 29 when George Russell pitted with Norris at the same time as the Virtual Safety Car had been initiated following a spin by Nico Hulkenberg.

As a result of pitting, Norris then lost places in the race – just before the Safety Car was called for the bad rain, followed by the red flag being shown after Franco Colapinto crashed. With the race suspended, the drivers were able to change their tyres before the race restarted, cancelling out any advantage that Norris and Russell may have had if the race continued on as usual.

Norris ended up finishing in sixth position, while Verstappen got back to winning ways for the first time since the Spanish Grand Prix – leaving him on the brink of another championship victory ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix on the 24th of November.

What Lando Norris Said After the Brazil GP

“Not talent, just luck”

Following the race, Norris said: “You can change your tyres under the red flag, it’s what the others did, so just unlucky and unfortunate. Sometimes it just goes your way.”

Norris also insisted that his team’s tactics during the race were correct: “So there’s nothing we did wrong. I don’t care what people say, staying out was not the right thing to do. It shouldn’t have been red-flagged, but obviously there was the crash in the end which caused the red. So it’s just life, sometimes. You take a gamble, it’s paid off for them. It’s not talent, it’s just luck. Just a bit unlucky.”

Norris also gave his thoughts to Sky Sports F1 following the race: “It was just unlucky. I don’t care about the hindsight side of things, that’s luck for them, nothing more. They got lucky on a rule that no one agrees with. Probably they agreed with it today, but every driver has disagreed with it in the past. Today it benefitted them, it could have benefitted us if we just stayed out, but that’s a stupid thing to think of. Just a bit unlucky today, nothing more. Of course, disappointing.”

On Max Verstappen, Norris added: “[Max] drove well. He got a bit lucky, but that’s life.”

Brazil GP Dents Lando Norris’ Title Hopes

With three races left, the Brit is now 62 points behind Verstappen

Norris’ deficit to Verstappen is now 62 points with just 86 points to play for over the final three rounds of the season. The McLaren man must now outscore the reigning champion by at least three points at the Las Vegas Grand Prix to prevent the 26-year-old from claiming another title with just two rounds to spare.

The hopes of a championship are now seemingly over for Norris, who was clearly a very frustrated figure following yesterday’s race, as he now knows that it is going to be a virtually impossible task to stop Verstappen from claiming the Drivers’ Championship once again.