{"id":326890,"date":"2025-12-04T09:43:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326890\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T09:43:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T09:43:12","slug":"the-mindset-lando-norris-needs-to-carry-into-the-f1-abu-dhabi-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/326890\/","title":{"rendered":"The mindset Lando Norris needs to carry into the F1 Abu Dhabi finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finish third. Easier said than done. But nothing Lando Norris<\/a> can’t do.<\/p>\n

Max Verstappen<\/a> is charging forward like an express train, and having him as a title challenger is scary enough. It seems as if he lives rent-free not only in the heads of the McLaren<\/a> drivers, but in the minds of everyone wearing papaya colours. The fear of losing to him is not just about defeat; after such a dominant 2025 season, in which McLaren scored almost twice as many points as its nearest rival, losing the drivers’ title would be embarrassing.<\/p>\n

This version of Verstappen is even more dangerous: he has nothing to lose and is happy to poke fun at McLaren, mocking its mistakes, laughing at its inability to shake him off despite the advantage it once had. His stance is clear: he doesn\u2019t mind receiving a fifth title as a gift from McLaren, but he won\u2019t be upset if he loses it either. No pressure, he\u2019s simply enjoying himself and the fact the world is amazed again by his brilliance.<\/p>\n

McLaren, meanwhile, is under enormous pressure \u2014 pressure, it must be noted, it has largely inflicted on itself. With the way this championship had been going, there should never have been a three-way title fight heading into Abu Dhabi. The final stretch of the season was supposed to be about the two papaya drivers battling each other, with the team acting as an impartial judge.<\/p>\n

\"Max <\/p>\n

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing<\/p>\n

Photo by: Mark Thompson \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Instead, McLaren tripped over its own rules, created a fight out of nowhere and allowed Verstappen to become the looming threat he is now. No room for error, no margin for a bad strategy call or a slow pitstop. Verstappen is happy to receive gifts \u2014 but he\u2019s not the one who will hand them out.<\/p>\n

But McLaren\u2019s inability to handle the pressure shouldn\u2019t distract from Norris\u2019 own performances in recent months \u2014 because in all of this, he has been the most reliable part of McLaren\u2019s shaky structure. And that, above all, is something he should not forget this weekend.<\/p>\n

While the rest of the world savours Verstappen\u2019s unbelievable recovery \u2014 from 104 points behind to just 12 over eight race weekends \u2014 Norris\u2019 charge has been almost as impressive. Yes, it would be an exaggeration to say he\u2019s been flawless, but the number of points he actually lost through his own unforced errors since his Zandvoort retirement<\/a> barely exceeds a dozen.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

Strip away the narrative of momentum and simply look at the standings: if someone had told Norris after Zandvoort that he\u2019d enter the season finale with a 12-point advantage over his closest rival, he would have signed for it instantly. That represents a swing of almost 50 points since late August, when his chances looked bleak. And despite Verstappen\u2019s surge, it is still the Briton who arrives in Abu Dhabi with the favourite\u2019s tag.<\/p>\n

And that is exactly where his focus should be. Not dwelling on the Las Vegas disqualification<\/a> \u2014 even if without it, Verstappen wouldn\u2019t even be mathematically in contention. Not worrying about Oscar Piastri<\/a>\u2019s revival in Qatar \u2014 because at this level you cannot expect to outperform your team-mate eight weekends in a row. And certainly not dwelling on Zandvoort \u2014 because in a strange way, it may have made Norris stronger.<\/p>\n

\"Lando <\/p>\n

Lando Norris, McLaren<\/p>\n

Photo by: Jayce Illman \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

After winning in Mexico City and Sao Paulo, Norris did everything right. Finishing behind Verstappen in Vegas was exactly what was required from a championship standpoint \u2014 it would have effectively killed off the Dutchman’s comeback.<\/p>\n

What happened afterwards had nothing to do with Norris. He was a victim of someone else\u2019s miscalculation. The same goes for Qatar: had the team not made the error of staying out on lap 7, he would have finished at least third \u2014 with Piastri winning the race. And that would have been a perfectly acceptable outcome too for the championship leader.<\/p>\n

It would be a stretch to blame the team, though, too. Without McLaren producing a car that was dominant for most of the year, Norris wouldn\u2019t be in this position\u00a0\u2014 that is a fact. And the mistakes he made in the first half of the season probably equal a couple of those committed by the team\u2019s engineers or strategists. This is not the time for Norris to reflect on any of that. Nobody had a perfect season. And even if Verstappen insists he won\u2019t blame his Barcelona \u201cred mist\u201d moment<\/a> should he lose the title, the reality is simple: if he finishes the year fewer than 10 points behind, that\u2019s precisely where the title slipped away.<\/p>\n

On Sunday in Doha, Norris was visibly distressed by what happened. As always, he doesn\u2019t hide frustration, and it was clear it hit him hard. Yet, just like after Zandvoort, he said all the right things.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing I can do about it,\u201d Norris responded when someone pointed out the 12-point gap. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously not our greatest day, not our greatest weekend. But I\u2019ve had… I don\u2019t know if anyone saw the run of results I had before that. It was great.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve put myself in this position. I\u2019m still happy. It wasn\u2019t our finest day, it wasn\u2019t my finest weekend in terms of driving and putting things together. But that\u2019s life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we all take it on the chin and we\u2019ll see what we can do next weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lando <\/p>\n

Lando Norris, McLaren<\/p>\n

Photo by: Steven Tee \/ LAT Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n

And if that\u2019s the attitude he brings into Abu Dhabi, there\u2019s no reason to expect him not to deliver what is required this weekend. He has behaved like a true title contender for the last three months.<\/p>\n

The best thing Norris can do now is to change nothing in his approach \u2014 because he has given himself no reason to doubt it. And there should be no doubt that he deserves this title.<\/p>\n

All he needs is a boring Sunday \u2014 finish in the top three on a track he won comfortably at last year, and ensure McLaren secures its first drivers\u2019 crown in an eternity. It won\u2019t be easy to treat this as a standalone event \u2014 but that is exactly the mindset he may need.<\/p>\n

Read Also:<\/p>\n

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– The Motorsport.com Team<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Finish third. Easier said than done. But nothing Lando Norris can’t do. Max Verstappen is charging forward like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[182715,64,63,817,183488,813,816,1737,913,85,183501],"class_list":["post-326890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi-gp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-f1","tag-f1-abu-dhabi-grand-prix","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-lando-norris","tag-mclaren","tag-sports","tag-the-mindset-lando-norris-needs-to-carry-into-the-f1-abu-dhabi-finale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326890","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=326890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}