Lando Norris claimed his third victory of the 2024 Formula One season as McLaren extend their advantage in the Constructors’ Championship. But F1 fans are not convinced the Britain will go on to claim the drivers title himself ahead of Max Verstappen.
The 24-year-old was entirely dominant from the get go at the Singapore Grand Prix, beating Verstappen by over, 20 seconds to the finish line. His victory allowed Norris to close the gap by another seven points to 52, with seven races left to go.
But there are doubts that Norris has the capabilities to complete what would prove to be astonishing maiden title victory, at least amongst the fanbase, due to his struggle to launch off the line.
A new poll conducted by Express Sports asked readers whether Norris would pay the price for slow starts on the grid. With nearly 5,000 votes, F1 supporters turned their back on the McLaren star, with a massive 72 per cent voting ‘yes’.
Despite the perceived lack of faith in Norris, he showed that his work in perfecting his launch from pole has been paying off at the Marina Bay circuit. The Papaya star was quick to cover off the threat from Verstappen heading into the first corner and never looked back to seal an important win.
He controlled the race from start to finish as the pure pace of the McLaren secured another important victory in his quest to stop Verstappen claiming a fourth world title.
Norris has admitted the issue has affected him this season, given that this was only the second time he has won from pole after squandering the lead on three occasions and when he started from the front of the grid.
He fell from first to third at the race start in Hungary, while his pole position at the Spanish GP wuickly evaporated as he plummeted to third by the end of the first lap
The most costly mistake came during the Chinese GP Sprint when Norris made an error in battling Lewis Hamilton and dropped to seventh on the opening lap. McLaren boss Andrea Stella confirmed in Belgium they would be working on the issue.
“These kinds of situations, they’re always very marginal,” Stella said at Spa in August. “I think Lando got a little distracted from what was happening on the inside and ran out of track. It’s marginal things like this, I think, require little adjustments here and there.
“Certainly, we work with Lando, like we work with Oscar [Piastri], to try and see all the opportunities in which we can improve individually, but also collaborate better, to either be more prepared or to use better our abilities and talents.
The target now for Norris to get his team-mate Oscar Piastri to help him keep Verstappen away from second place, as the Dutchman can go the rest of the season without winning a race and still win the title as long as finishes in P2. Getting off the line quickly will be his first priority, however, after his struggles this season.
