Norris ‘will try everything’ to win title in Qatar

Lando Norris’ desire to win the Formula 1 drivers’ title for the first time did not materialize on the weekend.

The Briton claimed that he was “convinced I would have been on pole” heading into the final session of the Qatar Grand Prix grid.

The McLaren driver’s chances of winning the race would have been excellent once the race was over, ensuring that he was crowned world champion on Sunday.

Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri, however, beat him to second place. The title battle moves to the final race in Abu Dhabi the following weekend if the Australian wins the race, as he did the sprint before Saturday’s grand prix qualifying.

Max Verstappen, a driver who instills such fear in rivals that McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown described the Dutchman as the villain in a horror film, should be taken into account.

Third place goes to the Red Bull driver, with the three title protagonists completing the grid first. The setup of the race is excellent.

With a 22-point lead over Piastri and 25 over Verstappen, Norris leads the fast and demanding Lusail circuit outside of Doha for the penultim grand prix of the season.

The possibilities are numerous, but the fundamental math is straightforward: if Norris wins, he becomes champion, or if Piastri or Verstappen win, the race continues.

Norris, who qualified for the pole position and placed third overall, said: “Yesterday, I didn’t really feel like I had the pace for pole.” I felt much more at ease and certain that I would have fallen off pole today. But I’m not currently. Because of that, I’m quite let down by myself.

After the first runs of qualifying, Norris edged Piastri by only 0.035 seconds to become the first pole-runner.

Norris felt good after their final runs, believing he had already increased his previous best by 0.1 seconds on Turn One. However, at the following corner, things went wrong.

Norris had to abort to avoid off the track because the front of the car kept losing control.

Piastri ran through it with gusto, taking pole by 0.108 seconds, thanks to that.

I’m not sure, Norris said, “Turn Two.” I’m not sure if the wind somehow altered me. I basically had to push into a small understeer because of it.

I had to go back. I was going to halt the course. As I turned around, the understeer worsened. And I also damaged a floor yesterday. Today, I didn’t want to harm another one.

“I was hoping I could have been on pole today, but I’m not,” he said. Naturally, that makes it feel worse.

Oscar did a good job, so I can’t take anything away from his weekend driving prowess.

“I apologised for my errors,” I said. Still, today is not a bad day. I’m still in second place. I’m definitely feeling better about things now that I’ve had a lot of fun with the car. I lacked the opportunity to simplify my life (for the race)”.

Norris was so perturbed by this. After all, he was only one place ahead of the other and one place behind one of his title rivals.

Because overtaking is so challenging in Qatar, Piastri is more likely to win if he enters the first corner first.

Norris essentially said that.

Yes, Norris said, “Probably just the start. I’m on the dirty side of the grid, but it’s just the run down to Turn One. We’ll see what we can do, so I have less high expectations.

Because of this race’s distinctiveness, there aren’t many other strategy options.

The tyres are put under heavy stress by Lusail’s numerous long-duration, medium-, and high-speed corners, and the sharp kerbs only make things worse.

Due to Pirelli’s fear of punctures, the tire supplier has mandated a maximum of 25 laps of use for any set of tires, making the race at least two pit-stops.

However, there is a lot of jeopardy. Before the 19-lap sprint, both Piastri and Mercedes’ George Russell, who finished second in the sprint and has qualified for the grand prix, both experienced tears in their front tires.

After a difficult run of races through the fall, Piastri’s race resulted in a timely return to form.

With his 34-point championship lead, Norris retired with a fuel-line failure in addition to his victory in the Dutch Grand Prix, giving Piastri the appearance of a champion elect. Prior to that, he had been this season’s more convincing McLaren driver.

However, Piastri has only been on the podium once since, at the very next race, and Norris has taken control of the title race after his run of grands prix, which he has made mistakes and lacked pace.

Really only a win will do tomorrow, just like Verstappen, for Piastri. Or at the very least, they must defeat Norris.

Piastri once said, “I’ve been in that same situation for the entire weekend, and it’s been a good experience.”

So I believe I’ve gained a lot of confidence that things can happen when I’m in the right place and at the right pace without having to do anything special.

So I’m confident that tomorrow we can try to do the same. And I’m prepared for the battle.

However, as all three of them noted, a lot can happen during a grand prix’s 200-mile journey.

Other vehicles may have issues. Safety vehicles, incidents, and retirements are possible.

The race will likely be flat out from beginning to end, or as close as it can get due to the restrictions on tires. Therefore, mistakes are more likely.

A race can go wrong in many more ways than it can go well, despite the fact that there are occasionally grand prix and that many drivers anticipate this to be so.

Verstappen is aware of this fact that McLaren drivers are pursuing their fifth world title while Verstappen is vying for his fifth.

He said, “You never know what happens in a race.” You know that we have a two-stop, but some things are beyond your control, right?

You just need to keep everything open because there might be some crazy things happening behind you.

We’ll do everything in our power to ensure a good start, and then make sure our tyres are maintained a little better because the understeer in the car is typically not good for race pace, but we’ll make every effort to minimize the damage.

Norris said he would try to relax in his hotel room on Saturday night to prepare for the day when he realizes his lifetime ambitions.

Play basketball in my room,” I said. Basketball in real life. I’m going to go home, get some spaghetti bolognese in, play some Counter-Strike, probably lose some Elo (ratings), and then go to bed.

He added that he would try to avoid the media, go see my engineers, do some work, and get ready as best as possible. See what opportunities might arise.