Janice R. Andrews
Former Formula One World Champion Damon Hill has told McLaren and their star driver Lando Norris to be unwavering in their chase of the drivers’ championship. Norris is competing for the title with Max Verstappen, who is currently the champion.
With a great race at the Dutch Grand Prix, Norris won his second F1 race of the season, beating Verstappen on his home track. The 24-year-old had a great race and beat the Dutchman by 22.8 seconds, which was the biggest winning gap of the season. Norris made a clear statement with this win. He is now in the middle of his first real title fight.
As of now, Norris is 70 points behind Verstappen in the drivers’ standings. The Italian Grand Prix will take place at the famous Monza track. Norris and McLaren are in a good spot because their car now looks like it is the fastest and most race-ready on the grid. But missed chances have cost important points, which could be very important in the very close race for the title.
It’s been a problem for Norris to get off to a good start in races, and he lost the lead to Verstappen at the first corner at the Dutch Grand Prix. Also, Norris lost seven important points last month in Hungary when he did what his team told him to do and let Oscar Piastri pass and win. Hill didn’t agree with this choice. He thinks that McLaren should put the drivers’ title first if they want Norris to become a world winner in the future.
Hill, who beat his Williams partner Jacques Villeneuve to win the 1996 F1 title, told The Independent that he was worried. “I’d ask McLaren if they’d like a Formula One world champion to drive for them to start next year.” When they have team tasks again, they need to think about that. “If you’re in a title fight, you don’t give up seven points towards the title,” Hill said.
Hill knows how complicated team relationships can be, but he stressed that every point is important in a title race. That’s the only thing I don’t like about it. The reasoning makes sense to me, and I know they talk about it ahead of time. But this has always been a tough problem in our sport because the teams think they are more important than the drivers’ title.
McLaren made their intentions clear when they won the Dutch Grand Prix weekend right after the summer break. Even though Verstappen was the clear favorite at home, Norris won pole position by beating him by three-tenths of a second at the Zandvoort track.
It happened again, though, when Verstappen passed Norris at the start of the race. This is the sixth time this season that Norris has lost the lead on the first lap after starting from pole position. But Norris and his team stayed calm and sure of their faster race pace. Norris was right to be confident when he retook the lead on lap 18 and never looked back, earning a very important win.
Hill talked about how important the drivers’ championship is to the sport’s marketing draw by talking about Norris’s attempt to win the title this year. “The people who own F1 know this: the drivers’ championship is where the money is.” If the team doesn’t have a show at the end, they don’t get any of the money from the builders’ title.
The drivers’ title is becoming the most closely fought since Max Verstappen’s dramatic win over Lewis Hamilton in 2021. The season is almost over. With nine races left, Norris will want to close the gap to Verstappen. McLaren, which is only 30 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ title, also has its eyes set on the top prize.
Formula One is becoming more competitive again after two years of Red Bull dominance. This means that the end of the season will be very exciting.
