Following Lando Norris’ dominant victory at Zandvoort, McLaren have rekindled their title hopes, drawing inspiration from Sebastian Vettel’s historic 2013 comeback to prove that nothing is impossible in F1.
Few would have predicted at the start of the season that we would see a McLaren capable of seriously challenging and putting in difficulty a Red Bull that, until the first races of 2024, seemed unbeatable. The dream of winning the constructors' title was already tangible in the first part of the seasone, but after Zandvoort, where McLaren closed the gap to the Milton Keynes team to just 30 points, achieving this goal becomes almost a duty, especially in light of Lando Norris' performance last weekend and also opening up the possibility of winning the drivers' world championship.
The British driver literally outclassed Max Verstappen, taking a victory in pure Dutch style in 2023, by a margin of 23 seconds. This victory, obtained starting from pole position and accompanied by the fastest lap on the final lap of Sunday's race, also reopens the possibility for Lando Norris to aim for the drivers' championship. Norris is currently 70 points behind Verstappen, and while it might seem like a tall order to achieve in 9 races, McLaren has a good example to follow: Sebastian Vettel's fourth title in 2013.
McLaren and the title race, the precedent with Vettel in 2013
Vettel was in a similar situation, battling with Ferrari and Mercedes in the early part of the season, but after the summer break he managed to prove he was in a class of his own, winning all 9 remaining races and thus securing his fourth and final world title. A situation that could be repeated for Lando, if he were able to replicate the combination of victory and fastest lap in the remaining races of the season, without necessarily having to rely on Verstappen's performances.
McLaren driver admits team always considered constructors' title possible since the beginning of the season, but as far as the drivers' championship is concerned, he prefers to focus on short-term goals, race by race:
“I’ve been fighting for the championship since the first race of the year. There was no sudden decision now. I have to do better. I’ve worked hard all year and I’m still 70 points behind Max. So it’s quite stupid to think about anything else at the moment. I’m taking one race at a time and continuing to do what I’m doing now because there’s no point in looking too far ahead and thinking about the rest.”
Source: motorsport.com
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella is a little more optimistic about the possibility of a double world championship and acknowledges that Vettel's example has already been discussed several times in the team briefings:
“In terms of the drivers’ championship, we wanted to keep focused on the fact that it is possible. We even talked about what Vettel did in 2013 and said: ‘we could do the same. Why not?’ We have to stay focused and think that it is possible.”
Source: motorsport.com
Regarding the performance in Zandvoort and the chances of repeating this result in the rest of the season, Stella says:
“I have to say it was very encouraging from a performance point of view, but at the same time, this was on a circuit that seems to suit our car very well, as Hungary was. Even after Hungary, the public was saying: ‘Ah, it will be P1, P2 in every race’. But that’s not the case. At the moment, it seems to depend a lot on the circuit.”
Source: motorsport.com
“This performance was certainly beyond expectations, both in terms of qualifying and the race, and to a certain extent the tyre degradation was also very good, so much so that Lando set the fastest lap of the race on the last lap.”
Source: motorsport.com
