Three-way title fight changes nothing after second place at COTA – Norris

Lando Norris says the reemergence of Max Verstappen as a serious contender in the drivers’ championship fight at the United States Grand Prix does not change the dynamic for his own hopes.

Verstappen has won three times and finished second once in the past four races, reducing a 104 point gap to Oscar Piastri to just 40 points in that spell. What was an 88-point deficit to Norris is now just 26 points, but Norris – who himself closed to within 14 points of Piastri by finishing second at COTA – says he retains the same approach to the fight. 

“Doesn't really matter,” Norris said. “I currently score the most points I can every weekend, so the more points I score, the better it is for both situations. It doesn't matter. Nothing changes. I don't have to do anything different for either. It's quite simple – just try and beat both drivers and life's easy then.

“I don't think [the pecking order] will change that much. It's close between us, the Red Bull. One weekend they're a little bit quicker, the next we're a little bit faster. Mercedes was quickest in Singapore, so you can have many different things here.”

Norris showed comparable pace to Verstappen throughout much of the race at Circuit of The Americas, but was stuck behind Charles Leclerc having lost out to the Ferrari at the start.

“[Leclerc] starting on the soft, starting on the right side of the grid, the advantage into Turn 1 on the outside…" he lamented. "After yesterday, I was a little bit wary. I didn't want to go too wide in Turn 1 because I didn't want to end up in the gravel again, so I kind of had to just stay on the inside and stick to the safer route. Charles did a good job and I got past.

“Who knows after that? I think I found it difficult enough just to get close to Charles and their pace wasn't bad at all. You know, until 10 laps to go, he was like six seconds off of Max, so it wasn't like we were that far away or their pace was that bad.

“I think it was a good race. The pace was pretty close. I think that's why it was so difficult, because we were quicker, for sure, but not by a lot. It was a bit challenging in the lap after lap battles, trying to put him under pressure, trying to make some mistakes here and there.

“He didn’t make many, for sure. I think, especially the final stint, I managed to get the tires into a good window, drop back a few seconds, re-attack, and I managed to kind of catch him a bit more off-guard with a couple of laps.

“A good result in the end. For a minute, I was not expecting to finish second. I thought he was just a bit too quick for us, but to get back into second and get past was perfect.”