Christian Horner makes major Drivers’ Championship admission after Lando Norris domination

Christian Horner admits nine more races like the Dutch Grand Prix will make it “very difficult” for Max Verstappen to keep hold of the Drivers’ title F1 2024.

But he insisted that the dominant performance of Lando Norris and McLaren at Zandvoort did not scare Red Bull.

Max Verstappen title defence ‘very difficult’ against Lando Norris

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Having seen their margin of dominance dissipate in F1 2024, Red Bull were looking for a response at the Dutch Grand Prix, the first race back after the summer break.

When Verstappen snatched the lead from Norris at the start, the signs were very promising indeed, but Norris responded to devastating effect.

On Lap 18 Norris reclaimed the Dutch GP lead from Verstappen and would soon disappear up the road, eventually winning the race by 23 seconds, the largest victory margin so far in F1 2024.

With Norris also claiming that fastest lap bonus point for a perfect 26-point haul, he reduced Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship lead to 70 points with nine races remaining, but is it too late to mount a title challenge?

If Norris keeps that form up, Horner believes Verstappen’s fourth successive title is far from a done deal.

Asked by media including PlanetF1.com if he is now worried that Norris can catch Verstappen for the Drivers’ Championship, Horner replied: “Based on today’s performance, if it’s like that at the next nine races, yes, it would be very, very difficult.

“It’s the fourth time this year, only the fourth time that Max’s points lead is reduced. It’s only Lando’s second win, but we know we have to find performance.

“So we were 78 points [in front], now we’re 70 ahead. We want to make sure that we extend the lead, not see it continually diminish.”

More key Dutch GP talking points

👉 Martin Brundle shares Max Verstappen conspiracy theory over huge pace gap to McLaren

👉 Dutch GP driver ratings: One stand-out driver outscores Norris, Verstappen and Leclerc

But while such a comprehensive defeat is not fun to take, Horner said what Norris and McLaren produced does not “scare” Red Bull, rather it “focuses the mind” on needing to find a response.

Asked if we may now see more of Verstappen driving with defending of the title in mind, Horner responded: “I think that you’ve got to drive with the championship in mind.

“There’s been seven different race winners this year. So if you can’t win, then you’ve got to be scoring the points.

“Obviously it’s not nice to be beaten by 22 seconds, but it just shows when you get things right and your car in the window, as we saw earlier in the year, that kind of result is possible.

“So it doesn’t scare us in any way. It just focuses the mind that, ‘Okay, we need to turn this around and we need to get it right.’

“I think that McLaren obviously made a step a little while ago and their car here, particularly with Lando, was very impressive, very impressive.

“So we need to understand where and address our deficit.”

Red Bull also saw their Constructors’ Championship lead over McLaren further cut to 30 points.

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