Jenson Button heard Lando Norris make ‘very unusual’ McLaren complaint before the US Grand Prix

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McLaren driver Lando Norris has an incredibly difficult task in front of him if he’s going to win his first Formula 1 world championship.

Max Verstappen has proved to be a worthy foe for the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and a host of Red Bull teammates during his F1 career.

However, during the 2024 season, McLaren’s rapid advancements have handed Lando Norris an unlikely opportunity to challenge the Dutchman.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

What started as a 52-point gap was marginally extended after Verstappen’s win in Saturday’s Sprint Race.

The two title rivals started alongside each other on the front row of the grid, although Norris had some worries about Verstappen despite taking pole position.

Jenson Button was covering the race for Sky Sports F1 and admitted that something the Brit said before he had even reached the grid left him very concerned.

Why Jenson Button was concerned about Lando Norris before the United States Grand Prix

Norris once again failed to lead a Grand Prix after starting on pole position, failing to get his approach into turn one right.

He moved across Verstappen but left a car’s width and Verstappen needed no further invitation to try and take the lead of the race.

Both drivers ran wide and that allowed Charles Leclerc to power through, dropping Norris down to fourth.

However, before he even reached the grid, Norris made a complaint about his McLaren on his warm-up laps and asked about the issue that he also raised during Saturday’s sessions, Button said: “Yeah, well first of all, it’s very unusual to hear information back to the team on an install lap to the grid because, first of all, you don’t want to let anyone else know, but also you don’t really get much of a feel.

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

“And you can worry yourself too much for the start of the race.

“So yeah, the weather changes and the wind changes, there’s going to be a lot more dirt on the track as the cars have been running and running off-track but it’ll come to him and I think that’s the balance they need, they had too much understeer throughout the weekend.”

Lando Norris couldn’t capitalise on ‘best lap’ of his Formula 1 career

As McLaren’s race pace proved during Sunday’s Grand Prix in Austin, Norris and Oscar Piastri didn’t have the fastest car during the first race back since the autumn break,

Verstappen’s quality shone through during the Sprint Race events, before Ferrari proved their credentials during Sunday’s race.

Leclerc benefitted from Verstappen and Norris’s clumsy start to the race before Carlos Sainz undercut Verstappen during the first round of pit stops.

It shows how good Norris’s qualifying lap was to start on pole position, to begin with.

George Russell’s crash prevented anyone from completing a second flying lap but Peter Windsor has highlighted the key to Norris’s perfect qualifying run.

Norris will be frustrated that he couldn’t hold onto the lead of the race on lap one as it could have dramatically changed the outcome of the race although victory may have still been out of his hands.