Becoming a world champion requires a driver to make very few errors over a season while being adaptable across a wide range of tracks and conditions.
Max Verstappen clinched his fourth consecutive world title this year despite suffering with a Red Bull car that was inferior to McLaren for much of the season.
The Dutchman minimised the damage over the summer as he endured a winless run of 10 rounds before a superb drive in the rain to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid.
Verstappen made a lot of mistakes earlier in his career which cost him strong results such as in final practice ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix in 2018 which forced him to start at the back of the field.
He then refined these errors and was able to compete with Lewis Hamilton in 2021 and win his first world championship for Red Bull.
Gian Carlo Minardi wasn’t happy with one driver who has started 127 races in his career and made a fundamental error over the Qatar Grand Prix weekend.
Lando Norris made ‘too big a mistake’ for a driver with aspirations of winning championships
Norris consistently competed at the front of the field for the first time in his career this season and took his first Grand Prix victory in Miami.
The British driver had some incredible race wins, particularly at the Dutch Grand Prix and in Singapore, where he won comfortably ahead of Verstappen.
Verstappen shouldn’t have taken victory at Imola, as Norris was very close to the Dutchman throughout the final stint of the race.
Qatar was slightly more tricky, and he slumped to 10th place and scoring just one point which didn’t allow McLaren to maximise their points total in the Constructors’ Championship battle.
Norris was given a 10-second stop-go penalty for failing to slow down under double-waved yellow flag conditions heading into Turn 1.
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This is a lacklustre error which cost him a potential race victory and he was the only driver to be penalised for this in the Grand Prix.
Minardi told the Motsporsport.com Italia YouTube channel: “Here undoubtedly there is a trivial mistake that one who wants to become world champion can’t make because the double yellow flags are a particular signal. You must be able to stop at any time and today with telemetry that sees in real time if you have at least raised your foot [you can see] that Norris did not.
“Unfortunately, the double yellow was there, and it is questionable, but it was there, and he did not comply with something very banal for someone who wants to win a world championship. It’s too big a mistake.”
Lando Norris needs to stop making small mistakes to become world champion
Norris was very impressive at times this season, particularly in Singapore when he took control of the race and led from start to finish with a comfortable margin over Verstappen.
The McLaren driver drove well but suffered some near misses over the race on the unforgiving roads of the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
He also lacked decisiveness in wheel-to-wheel combat at other races as he was passed around the outside at Della Roggia by his teammate Oscar Piastri before slumping to third place at Monza.
Next season will be a challenge, and Norris will be under pressure to hit the ground running if McLaren are competitive straight away rather than playing catch up.
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