Lando Norris admits Max Verstappen would have won in Brazil: “Today he was faster”. Lando Norris admits Max Verstappen would have won the Brazilian GP..

There was both satisfaction and regret after the Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix. The McLaren MCL39 did not fully convince Lando Norris, even though Max Verstappen appeared to have thrown in the towel. Norris won at Interlagos but confessed, “Today Max Verstappen would have won if he had started further up the grid.” It was not only an admission but also a warning for McLaren: no distractions are allowed, despite the 49-point lead now held over the Red Bull driver. The four-time world champion, however, seems to have accepted his fate: “I didn’t lose the championship today, but in all the races up to Zandvoort.”

A flawless Lando Norris took victory at Interlagos with remarkable composure. The British driver did not celebrate over team radio, climbed out of the car slowly — “I was very tired,” he said in the press conference — and has now fully embraced his new persona as a calm and focused competitor. He will likely remain that way until the end of the year, as a response to the constant “background noise” that keeps surrounding him.

This version of Lando is arguably the best we have seen so far in terms of on-track performance. The Briton has stopped making mistakes and now shows an almost obsessive attention to detail: “Today we achieved the maximum and got the best result possible, but Verstappen would have won if he had started in front. I was happier with the car in Mexico; the balance here wasn’t perfect.”

Verstappen gives up: “Championship lost, but not today”

While Lando Norris keeps his focus razor-sharp — particularly with teammate Oscar Piastri trailing 24 points behind — there is a growing sense of resignation within Red Bull. The Milton Keynes team will keep fighting as long as the mathematics allow, but Max Verstappen’s words leave little room for doubt: “We’re 49 points behind, but we didn’t lose the championship today.”

“We have very different circuits coming up, and I don’t know if the car updates will help us. We’re struggling with the tyres, and a lot will depend on the track and the temperatures. We’ll focus on finding the right operating window. The championship was lost in all the races up to Zandvoort. On many weekends, we simply weren’t fast enough. We recovered some points, but it wasn’t enough. That’s how the season is going,” the Dutchman concluded.