Jacques Villeneuve shares the moment he thought McLaren showed ‘real weakness’ this season

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McLaren is on the verge of winning their first Constructors’ Championship since the 1998 season having now overtaken Red Bull.

The final seven races will be critical for both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to continue their current form, amid another threat from a resurgent Ferrari and if Red Bull’s planned upgrade for Austin yields results.

Mercedes is also bringing a ‘bigger package’ to the US GP in a late bid to rectify their tyre temperature problems, ahead of what could be challenging races at Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

Norris is within 59 points of Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship and is closing the gap, as the Dutchman has not won since the Spanish GP in June.

While the McLaren duo has outscored every team on the grid, former F1 driver and 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve has highlighted the reason why he thinks Norris will miss out on the title when speaking to Marca.

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Jacques Villeneuve says Max Verstappen shows more maturity than Lando Norris

Norris has remarkably only won two races this season but let a lot of points slip in the title battle, owing to a series of strategic mishaps and unforced errors on track.

The last two races he has missed big opportunities to close the gap to Verstappen. In Monza, he was overtaken by his teammate in a forceful move which relegated him to third from pole, then at Azerbaijan a poor qualifying strategy led to a back-of-the-grid start.

Villeneuve believes these errors, largely owed to McLaren, will ultimately be the cause of Norris’ failure to win the title this season.

“It will be very close between Max and Lando. Max has changed his approach. He is not trying to win races, but just to rack up points. That shows maturity,” said Villeneuve.

“The championship is more important than winning individual races. He knows that McLaren is not making the tough decisions that it should, and that will be in his favour. If Lando is not champion it will be McLaren’s fault, not his.

“McLaren have made a mess of things and it’s too late now. It started in Hungary, they have shown real weakness by not giving priority to Norris over Piastri, but we don’t know what Oscar’s contract says. We don’t know what Mark Webber, his manager, managed to get into his contract. He’s a smart guy.”

McLaren backs Lando Norris for title

Even though Piastri has outscored Norris and the rest of the field in the last seven races, McLaren is still backing the Briton for the title and expects his teammate to provide support on track.

Piastri retaliated by stating that while he will be offering support where he can, it does not simply mean that he will be giving up race wins for Norris.

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

Will Buxton believes Norris has not put enough of a ‘stamp’ on his performances lately, while former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde said Piastri has outclassed Norris in every area apart from qualifying.

The dynamic between the pair is to be fascinating heading into the final rounds, as McLaren deals with having to extend its championship lead while also providing Norris with enough support to close the gap to Verstappen.