The updated Drivers\u2019 and Constructors\u2019 Championship standings<\/a><\/p>\nMcLaren team principal Andrea Stella declared after qualifying in Baku that Verstappen was a \u201cvery serious contender\u201d, adding after his lights-to-flag win on the Sunday: \u201cI used the capital letters already yesterday, when I said yes in capital letters, and today, I think it just confirms.\u201d<\/p>\n
But 69 points down with 199 in play, Verstappen would have to overturn a monumental deficit to win his fifth successive World title.<\/p>\n
Even still, Norris says it could happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean there\u2019s a chance, so more than zero,\u201d he told the media during Thursday\u2019s press conference for the Singapore Grand Prix. \u201cI don\u2019t know, there probably like actual stats so I don\u2019t know. Yeah there\u2019s a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all know Max,\u201d said Esteban Ocon, \u201cand know how dangerous he is when there\u2019s something to grab. So, yeah, there\u2019s a good chance that if he\u2019s got a competitive car till the end of the year, he can catch back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressed for a number on Verstappen\u2019s title chances, Russell answered \u201c100 percent\u201d before laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood friend,\u201d was the response to that.<\/p>\n
On a more serious note, Norris was asked if Verstappen was a genuine challenger to the McLaren teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cGenuinely a challenger,\u201d he insisted. \u201cI think if you go back to the beginning of the season, they [Red Bull] were challenging the first six, seven races for race wins, challenging us in the Drivers\u2019. And then we bought some upgrades. Improved a little bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cCouple weeks ago, they bought us some upgrades, and it seems like that\u2019s kind of put them back on the same level as us.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think we still come into every race with the ambition and with the goal of winning and wanting to dominate as a team and continue the form that we\u2019ve had all season.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while Verstappen could yet win the title, McLaren continues to holds down a one-two with Piastri 25 points ahead of Norris.<\/p>\n
Asked if he could overhaul his teammate, the Briton made it clear he was tired of being asked that question.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou ask me this question every time, and it\u2019s the same answer,\u201d he said. \u201cCome up with something new.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust play the clip from last time, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also not worried that McLaren will prioritise Piastri in the title fight now that Verstappen has closed in, sarcastically saying: \u201cI\u2019m very concerned. Yeah, very worried about it, and scared, frankly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo yeah, I was happy you asked that, actually.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read next: Ralf Schumacher highlights Norris\u2019s \u2018major weakness\u2019 compared to Piastri and Verstappen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Securing back-to-back victories in Monza and Baku, Max Verstappen cut his championship points deficit to 69 points, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,818,1737,825,806,805,803,804,44,52584,85],"class_list":["post-187205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-lando-norris","tag-max-verstappen","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-news","tag-singapore-grand-prix","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}