Helmut Marko highlights McLaren issue that could cost Lando Norris the F1 title

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Helmut Marko has highlighted an issue affecting McLaren that Red Bull know very well which can hurt Lando Norris’ bid to beat Max Verstappen to the Formula 1 drivers’ title.

The Briton is on the hunt for his first drivers’ championship this season. But Norris needs to overcome a 52-point gap to Verstappen through the final six Grand Prix and three F1 Sprint events. Even winning every race and setting the fastest lap may no longer be enough to win.

Verstappen can afford to finish second to Norris in every race left and still clinch the Red Bull driver’s fourth successive championship. The early lead the Dutchman created after winning seven of the first 11 Grand Prix and two of the first three Sprints might carry him to the end.

Helmut Marko questions if McLaren are ‘mature enough’ for Lando Norris to win the title

Norris has only taken 29 points out of the 81-point deficit he faced to Verstappen since they collided in the Austrian Grand Prix. Despite McLaren consistently boasting the faster car and Red Bull not winning since the Spanish Grand Prix, the 24-year-old has not taken full benefit.

Verstappen squeezed Norris and made contact twice at the Austrian GP as they battled over the lead. Since then, the 27-year-old has also only made three podiums. But it could still not be enough for Norris and Marko believes McLaren are, in part, why he may not win the title.

Marko recently conceded that McLaren have a stronger driver pairing than Red Bull, and has again praised the pairing of Norris with Oscar Piastri. But Red Bull’s motorsport advisor feels McLaren are not ‘mature enough’ like their rivals from Milton Keynes were not back in 2009.

READ MORE: McLaren driver Lando Norris’ life outside F1 from parents to celebration

Red Bull played the role with Sebastian Vettel in 2009 that McLaren are this year with Norris as the German tried in vain to catch Brawn GP driver Jenson Button to win his first title. The Briton, like Verstappen this term, started strongly and was ultimately able to hold on to win.

“You can compare that,” Marko has told OE24. “Back then, we weren’t mature enough as a team to win the world championship. McLaren are in a similar situation now, although they recently had the best car and a strong driver pairing in Norris and Piastri.”

Jenson Button won the 2009 title after starting strongly like Max Verstappen has in 2024

Button won the 44-year-old’s only drivers’ title in 2009 after Brawn GP burst out of the gates with their iconic double diffuser when Ross Brawn purchased the Honda team to keep them on the grid. The Somerset star won six of the first seven Grand Prix, yet did not win another.

Having also finished the 2009 Chinese Grand Prix in P3, Button left the Turkish Grand Prix on 61 points. Formula 1 only awarded 10 points for a win between 1991 and 2009, before using the current points system with 25 points for a win in 2010 as Vettel got his first of four titles.

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Vettel was only third in the drivers’ standings after round seven with 29 points thanks in part to winning in Shanghai. The 37-year-old also won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone but was not consistent enough to eat enough points out of Button’s lead during the other races.

Button eventually won the 2009 drivers’ championship at the penultimate round with P5 in the Brazilian Grand Prix. Vettel winning the Japanese Grand Prix plus the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on either side of his P4 at Interlagos meant the German finished the year 11 points shy.

But Red Bull learned from their near-miss and Vettel won the next four drivers’ titles, as the team from Milton Keynes also won each year’s constructors’ championships. Norris will now hope Marko’s comparison does not prove true and McLaren show they are ‘mature enough’.

There are reasons behind Marko’s claim, however, as even Piastri admitted that McLaren are ‘learning a lot as we go along’ after being out of the title fight for so long. The Woking squad have won 12 drivers’ and eight teams’ titles, yet their last successes were in 2008 and 1998.