AUSTIN — One of the major storylines heading into this weekend's U.S. Grand Prix will be whether Lando Norris can catch Max Verstappen for the 2024 F1 Drivers' Championship and whether Norris and McLaren will win the constructors' championship. The question is whether they can retain the championship.
But regardless of how these two title races turn out, Norris already sees the 2024 season as “a year to be proud of.”
Speaking to the media at Thursday's FIA press conference, Norris downplayed the idea that finishing second in either championship meant the season was not successful for him or McLaren.
“So at the beginning of the year we started pretty late. I think everyone thought Max was going to win the championship easily. Redwall would easily win the championship again,” Norris said Thursday. I started it off. “After the gap that appeared to them after the first race, and then not even from Ferrari, which is the main contender, but from our team, which was probably fourth at the beginning of the year, because that is not the case. I think this is still a year to be proud of.”
However, Norris admitted that McLaren's success had forced him to “re-evaluate” his expectations for the campaign.
“But as the season progresses, we constantly re-evaluate where we are now and what is expected of us,” Norris added. “And our expectation now, and for some time now, is that we are a top team, fighting for wins, fighting for the constructors' championship, fighting for the drivers' championship. It was.
“And we're playing against the best of the best and it's been a fun year. But no matter what, I still think it's a successful season.”
Norris and McLaren will have their next challenge to live up to revised expectations on Friday when the Circuit of the Americas comes alive with practice and qualifying for Saturday's F1 sprint race.
