Juan Pablo Montoya has explained why he thinks Lando Norris’ title bid is ‘dead’ within McLaren

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Lando Norris heads into the Las Vegas Grand Prix with a 62-point deficit to make up on Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ title battle.

The McLaren driver had the chance to steal a lot of points in Brazil, but Verstappen put in a masterful drive that saw him climb from P17 on the grid and win the race.

Norris started from pole but suffered a setback when he pitted before a red flag, effectively consigning him to places outside the top three. Things went worse when he made a mistake during one of the restarts and went off track, causing him to drop to seventh place.

Teammate Oscar Piastri was told to move out of the way because he incurred a 10-second time penalty, which was the second time McLaren had enacted team orders on their drivers.

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya expects this will not be the case at the next race in Las Vegas when speaking on W Radio Columbia, with McLaren set to only have one focus.

Juan Pablo Montoya thinks Lando Norris title bid ‘dead’ as McLaren focus on Constructors’ title

McLaren instructed Piastri to support Norris while he battles Verstappen in the title race, after the pair inflicted an unforced error on each other at the start of the Italian GP that led to them losing to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.

Now that McLaren leads in the Constructors’ Championship from Ferrari by 36 points, the focus is likely to switch to how they can defend from them at the upcoming circuits.

Ferrari is expected to do well at Las Vegas after how strong they were at Azerbaijan, and Montoya believes this will be the race where Norris might have his support in the Drivers’ Championship taken away.

“Lando’s title is already dead for that race (Vegas). In the next race it will be all about how do we make sure that Ferrari doesn’t get us and get close in the Constructors’ Championship,” said Montoya.

Max Verstappen dealt Lando Norris ‘slap in the face’ at Sao Paulo

Although Verstappen’s driving was in the spotlight in the days leading up to the race in Brazil, the Dutchman put in a string of fastest laps at the end which enabled him to finish 19 seconds ahead of Esteban Ocon.

His pace ensured nobody was going to catch him in the rain, with Norris also unable to progress any further than P6 after getting stuck behind Charles Leclerc and George Russell.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Christian Danner thinks Norris was given a ‘slap in the face’ by Verstappen due to his pace, while also proving a point to those who questioned Verstappen’s ability.

Red Bull has been more focused on defending the Drivers’ Championship for Verstappen this season, while the underperforming Sergio Perez has led to them slipping down to P3 in the standings.