McLaren told they made one ‘huge mistake’ that cost Lando Norris in his title fight with Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen officially sealed his fourth consecutive world championship at the Las Vegas Grand Prix after he put the title almost out of reach in the previous round.

The Dutchman’s stunning victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix from P17 on the grid shattered any hopes of Lando Norris beating him to the crown. The McLaren driver had been Verstappen’s closest competitor and had the fastest car in the field for much of the season.

The Brit had been closing the gap in the championship after Verstappen suffered a drop in performance with his RB20 – he went 10 races without a win from the Spanish Grand Prix. But after Norris finished sixth in Sao Paulo, his title chances were all but over.

Looking back at the season, many will debate whether McLaren failed to capitalise on their advantage over the field and take the fight to Red Bull. It could be argued that Verstappen was too far ahead for Norris to catch – he was 70 points ahead of the Brit after winning in Barcelona.

However, it could also be argued that the Woking-based outfit created their own downfall. Norris made several costly errors across the season that prevented him from taking advantage of the pace of his MCL38.

Some even believe that the Brit is not ready to challenge for the title. Eddie Jordan says Norris should look at Verstappen’s videos to learn from him and come back stronger in 2025.

Marc Surer believes McLaren made a ‘huge mistake’ in not supporting Lando Norris ‘right away’

Marc Surer believes that McLaren made a ‘huge mistake’ that ultimately cost Norris in his bid to fight for the title, with one race in particular coming to mind.

It was clear that Norris had a better chance than teammate Oscar Piastri to fight for the title, but the latter seemed keen on battling the former on track, leading McLaren to intervene with ‘papaya rules.’

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The term came to light after the Hungarian Grand Prix, where Piastri had led for most of the race before Norris found himself ahead after the final pit stops. The Brit was urged to let the Aussie back past, which he eventually did after many laps of persuasion from McLaren.

The seven points Norris lost still would not have been enough to win the title, but for Surer, if McLaren had prioritised Norris earlier, things could have ended a lot differently.

“So, I think they made a huge mistake by not betting on Norris right away,” he told Formel1.de.

“The Hungary race always comes to mind. If you have one that theoretically has a chance of winning the world championship and then accompany him when he leads the race by 20 seconds and then gives him stalls to wait for the other one.

“Sorry, that was wrong from the team and I’m also saying this because, if Norris had been closer to it, they would have to give him better support.

“Max Verstappen has become more nervous, we’ve seen a few times that he’s become more nervous and has allowed himself to go into grey areas.

“For Norris, it then might have come to a head and then maybe Red Bull or Max Verstappen would have made a mistake. But I have to say that Verstappen was practically error-free.”

McLaren can still win silverware in 2024

While it was a substantial gap for Norris to close, it seems that his defeat has been hard to take at McLaren. Team principal Andrea Stella was ‘a bit depressed’ after the Las Vegas Grand Prix as Verstappen claimed the title.

But the team will need to put that behind them and dust themselves off for the final two races as they are in a good position to win their first Constructors’ Championship in 26 years.

The Woking-based outfit are 24 points ahead of Ferrari heading into the final Sprint race weekend in Qatar. The Maranello outfit took a chunk out of McLaren’s lead by finishing third and fourth in Las Vegas behind both Mercedes.

Defending champions Red Bull are 29 points further back in third. Christian Horner has set a target for Sergio Perez to get further up the field in the last two races in his bid to help Verstappen challenge McLaren and Ferrari for their second title in 2024.