Norris: Verstappen, a rival forged in F1, “almost impossible” to match

Lando Norris, Formula 1 driver, has stated that reaching Max Verstappen’s level is “almost impossible.” Norris acknowledges the difficulty of competing with a driver who, according to him, was born for Formula 1. Verstappen, after consecutive victories in Monza and Baku, has resurfaced in the fight for the championship. Despite being 69 points behind the leader, Oscar Piastri, with 199 points still in play in the seven remaining races, Norris remains 44 points ahead of Verstappen. Verstappen’s path in motorsport was marked by the influence of his father, Jos Verstappen, who competed in 106 races and was a teammate of Michael Schumacher. His mother, Sophie Kumpen, also had a successful career in karting. Verstappen debuted in F1 at the age of 17.

I don’t want to say or believe that I will ever be as good as Max because I think that’s the wrong thing for me to tell myself.

Lando Norris

Norris emphasized Verstappen’s consistency as a key factor in his success. He highlighted that Verstappen always performs at his best, even on his less favorable days. Norris reflected on Verstappen’s advantages, mentioning his family environment and the experience accumulated from an early age. He acknowledged that, if he could, he would also choose to have racing parents and start his career in karting from a young age, in order to have more development opportunities.

In the last race in Azerbaijan, Norris was unable to take advantage of the opportunity to reduce the gap to Piastri, his McLaren teammate, due to a crash in qualifying and an incident on the first lap of the race. Norris, who started in seventh position, could only score six points, which affected his position in the championship. Faced with criticism of his performance in Azerbaijan, Norris stated that he does not pay attention to social media and does not care about external opinions.