F1 News: ‘Not impossible’ McLaren’s Norris will win 2024 title

(GMM) It is “not impossible” that McLaren driver Lando Norris will be crowned 2024 world champion, according to seven-time title winner Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton inherited the win at Spa-Francorchamps after his Mercedes teammate was disqualified, while the McLarens suffered a brief performance dip.

“I think McLaren have maybe dropped off a little bit in some of the last few races,” he said, “but apart from that, it’s a team that is performing very, very well now.”

Team boss Andrea Stella, whose contract was just renewed by McLaren for multiple years, says he was actually surprised the team was not even further behind at the season mid-point.

“We haven’t brought many new things to the track since Miami, which was quite an extensive upgrade,” he said. “But we still have a few more changes in the pipeline that we will bring in the second part of the season.”

One problem at McLaren is a series of small mistakes by Lando Norris – like at the start of the Belgian GP. “We always work closely with both drivers to see where they can improve individually,” Stella explained.

“We will not change anything fundamentally, but these missed opportunities, which Lando has recently had more at the beginning of the races, give us something to analyze. We need to find out whether there is a reason for this or whether it is just coincidence,” the Italian added.

Oscar Piastri had a strong run to the podium on Sunday, but he also overshot the mark at a pitstop – giving the McLaren mechanic on the front jack a decent whack.

“We have to work with the drivers to ensure that they don’t overdo it in these heated moments,” Stella said. “But we’re happy with the consistency and strength of the team. We are the only ones who have always been able to score points. And we have now achieved ten podium places in a row.”

He admitted he has also been surprised by Red Bull’s recent performance dip.

“If you had asked me before the race (in Belgium), I wouldn’t have been sure whether we could make up any points on Red Bull. I expected (Max) Verstappen to fly through the field.”

Norris is Verstappen’s closest challenger for the 2024 drivers’ crown, but the gap – with ten races to go – is a whopping 78 points.

“That’s a big number,” Mercedes’ Hamilton admits.

“It’s been a while since I fought for the title, but I think there was a point where I was 40 points behind.

“McLaren is performing very well, so it’s not impossible. But it will be a very, very big challenge.”