Norris has ‘nothing to lose’ as he hunts Verstappen in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Lando Norris declared Thursday he has “nothing to lose” as he aims to close the Formula One world title gap on Max Verstappen at this week´s Singapore Grand Prix.

McLaren driver Norris, who carved his way past Verstappen to fourth place after starting 15th on the grid at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix last week, is hunting down Red Bull´s triple world champion at the top of the drivers´ standings.

Verstappen´s lead has been cut to 59 points with seven grands prix and three sprints to go, leaving a maximum of 207 points up for grabs. McLaren are the new favourites for the team title, having opened up a 20-point lead on Red Bull, but Norris believes the drivers´ championship is still in Verstappen´s hands.

“It´s still for him (Verstappen) to lose, not for me,” Englishman Norris told reporters in the paddock ahead of Sunday´s Singapore night race. “I´m still the one who has got nothing to lose.”

Dutchman Verstappen won seven of the first 10 races this season but he has not triumphed in the last seven as McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes have all taken race wins. “If you go back to the beginning of the year, Red Bull were still dominant,” noted Norris.

“They were beating us by bigger margins than we are beating them. I strongly believe they can turn things around quite quickly.” Verstappen admitted his set-up was all wrong for qualifying in Baku and that then compromised his race.

“You start in the back of the top group and the balance was, of course, not there in the race,” Verstappen told reporters. “Then you get stuck behind two cars in the middle of the race so you kill your tyres.” History suggests that Verstappen´s fortunes are unlikely to improve around the unpredictable Marina Bay Circuit this weekend.

Singapore under lights was the only race Red Bull failed to win last year. Ferrari´s Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag ahead of Norris after Verstappen failed to make the top 10 in qualifying, eventually finishing fifth.

Verstappen has never won on the tight city-centre circuit where tropical storms, intense humidity, concrete barriers, safety cars and red flags all add to the uncertainty. Street circuit specialist Sergio Perez did win in Singapore in 2022, but that was Red Bull´s only victory there since Sebastian Vettel in 2013.

Perez was flying again on Baku´s street circuit last weekend and was denied a podium place only by his late clash with Sainz that put them both into the wall. “Checo (Perez) was one of the quickest and should have won the race,” admitted Norris. “So that´s just Max having a bad weekend, not Red Bull having a bad weekend.”

Norris´s teammate, Oscar Piastri of Australia, took his second win of the season in Baku and Verstappen admitted that McLaren had the edge now. “At the moment they are very strong as a team,” said Verstappen. “And so for us it´s how to make it a lot more difficult for them generally. But that starts with ourselves. We have to be better and make the car faster.”