MONZA, Italy (AP) — Lando Norris claimed he’s not feeling the pressure — no more than normal at least.
Norris secured a dominant victory at the Dutch Grand Prix last time out to continue to chip away at Max Verstappen’s lead at the top of the Formula One standings.
The McLaren driver moved to within 70 points of Verstappen with nine races remaining and much of the focus will be on how the title fight could develop at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
“I don’t think of (the expectation) at all,” Norris said on Thursday. “There’s always pressure. I still get so nervous before qualifying, before the races I still get just as excited and just as nervous.
“I barely eat anything on Sundays, I struggle to drink anything on Sundays, just because I’m nervous and because of the pressure," the 24-year-old Briton added. "But I think it’s how how you turn that into a positive thing, how do you not let it affect you in a bad way, how can you actually use it in a good way to help you focus on the correct things and so on.”
It was clear last weekend at Zandvoort that Norris’ team had the fastest car following McLaren’s latest upgrades. That points to what could be an increasingly competitive title fight with Verstappen in the last nine races of the season after the Dutch driver was far ahead of the rest in 2022 and 2023.
McLaren also cut the gap to Red Bull in the constructors’ championship to 30 points as the team chases its first title since 1998.
It was only a second ever win for Norris. The other victory was in Miami in May, and he has finished second four times since then.
Verstappen had never been beaten on his home track but Norris has been quick to temper enthusiasm about a reignited title race.
“Monza’s a very different track. It gives the team a good amount of confidence and always a little bit of a boost, but it doesn’t change your feeling,” Norris said. “We know we’ve been performing well the whole year since Miami, we’ve been doing a very good job and this was a weekend where everything just went perfectly.
“We’re pushing hard every weekend, of course our goal is to catch in both, especially from a constructors’ side it looks a lot more doable than the drivers’ side. But I’m doing my best, the team’s doing their best and that’s all we can hope for.”
Verstappen said last weekend that “something has been going on lately with the car” and that Red Bull needs to figure out how to combat twin problems of a lack of pace and higher-than-expected tire wear.
The three-time defending champion is now without a victory in five races, his longest winless run since 2020. But Verstappen appeared unfazed by his narrowing lead.
“Listen, I just do the best I can,” he said at Monza. "If I win it or not, it’s not going to change my life. Would I like to win it? Yes, of course.
“But it’s not in my hands with the performance of the car because I just try to do the best I can, try to give feedback, try to make it faster. If that’s going to be enough to the end of the year, I don’t know.”
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