Lando Norris ‘annoyed’ by what people keep saying about Max Verstappen during their F1 title fight

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Lando Norris managed to claw back some more ground in the championship fight at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver is just 22 points behind Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship fight now, with six races to go. He needs to be beating his teammate as often as possible to ensure he still has a fighting chance at the season-ender in Abu Dhabi.

He also has Max Verstappen to worry about now, with the Dutchman experiencing a bit of a resurgence currently. Norris is now embroiled in a battle with two drivers, which wasn’t expected during the summer break, when Red Bull looked down and out for the season.

Norris had an ‘unusual’ clash with Piastri in Singapore, after understeering and bumping into the side of the Aussie, prompting an angered response. McLaren might have created a Piastri problem by failing to solve the matter on the spot. Their driver seemed upset with the matter after the race.

READ MORE: Anthony Davidson tells Lando Norris what punishment he should have received for Oscar Piastri clash

Lando Norris ‘annoyed’ by claims Max Verstappen is ‘overachieving’ at Red Bull

Brundle called Norris’ move ‘aggressive’ in Singapore, but didn’t feel as if he had crossed a line that warranted a punishment. While trying to get past Piastri, he did make contact with Verstappen, which damaged his front wing.

McLaren opted not to change it for the remainder of the race, but he might have been able to go a little quicker and secure second place without the inconvenience.

The Race’s Scott Mitchell-Malm now reports that an ‘irritated’ Norris is fed up with people suggesting that the reigning champion is actually overachieving in his car. Recent upgrades have helped Red Bull to catch McLaren, and there may not be much of a difference between them now.

“While Stella acknowledges that Red Bull passed a key test in Singapore, McLaren driver Lando Norris didn’t seem happy at all to have his old rival being talked up so much,” he said.

“There was a slightly irritable air to Norris at times through the weekend, as he was annoyed with his own driving on Friday and Saturday. A bit fed up of questions about his run-in with teammate Piastri on Sunday, and in between, had a run-in of sorts with Verstappen.

“There has definitely been a trend this year of Norris getting annoyed at suggestions that Verstappen is overachieving in his car, and that Red Bull has had a bad season,” Mitchell-Malm continued.

“His Singapore comments were a fresh pushback, which may well reflect how the competitive order has shifted and brought Verstappen back into play. And the fact that McLaren were simply not quite as competitive in Singapore, as Norris would have wanted.”

READ MORE: Oscar Piastri agrees with Zak Brown on ‘difficult’ Lando Norris clash at the Singapore Grand Prix

Why McLaren will be worried about a change in Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris’ title battle

Although McLaren’s priority was always to win the constructors’ title, they might be a little worried about how the drivers’ battle will play out now.

In the final six races of the season, the intensity will ramp up, and their two drivers will get to a stage where working with each other is no longer an option.

Instead of truly being a team force up against Verstappen, it could effectively transform into a three-way individual fight for top honours.

They won’t want that loss of cohesion to open the door for Red Bull to swoop and somehow steal an incredible double title-winning season from them. They need to be careful.