Lando Norris delivered an emphatic comeback to Max Verstappen, who had claimed that had he been in the McLaren MCL39, he would have secured his fifth world championship a long time ago.<\/p>\n
Norris stated his respect for title rival Verstappen<\/a>, but also claimed that while Verstappen \u201chas a good clue about a lot of things\u201d, there are \u201calso a lot of things he doesn\u2019t have much of a clue about.\u201d Norris claimed that an \u201caggressive nature\u201d is the Red Bull way, as is \u201ctalking nonsense a lot of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Lando Norris claps back at Max Verstappen<\/p>\n The penultimate round of F1 2025 in Qatar is underway. Oscar Piastri won the Sprint, with McLaren teammate and championship leader<\/a> Norris crossing the line third.<\/p>\n That allowed Piastri to trim his deficit to Norris slightly to 22 points, but Norris was able to move one point further clear of the resurgent Max Verstappen, putting 25 points between them.<\/p>\n Verstappen has made the podium at every round since the summer break, a run which has included four grand prix wins, which has brought him back into a title fight which was shaping up as a McLaren-exclusive battle.<\/p>\n Ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, Verstappen suggested that \u201cother people\u2019s failures\u201d is the reason why he is still a title contender, in a cheeky dig at McLaren.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we would have been in the position of how dominant of a car, well, [McLaren] had, let\u2019s say it like that, [the] championship would have been over a long time ago,\u201d Verstappen claimed to Formula 1.com.<\/p>\n Those comments were brought up to Norris following the Sprint, and his response was emphatic.<\/p>\n \u201cMax is very welcome to say everything he wants, to be honest,\u201d Norris began.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s kind of earned the right, you know, he\u2019s won four world championships. I have a lot of respect, and I think that gives anyone a lot of credit in general. He\u2019s achieved an incredible amount more than anyone generally dreams of achieving.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, Max generally has a good clue about a lot of things. But, there\u2019s also a lot of things he doesn\u2019t have much of a clue about.<\/p>\n More from the Qatar GP via PlanetF1.com<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 FIA eyes Qatar GP safety measures following Pirelli tyre cuts discovery<\/a><\/p>\n