Lando Norris hailed for his ‘powerful’ gesture that stopped Max Verstappen ‘messing with him’

Follow us on Google Discover

Lando Norris’ disqualification from the Las Vegas Grand Prix let Max Verstappen slash his lead atop the 2025 drivers’ championship, with just 24 points now between them.

The McLaren star was due to leave Sin City with a 42-point lead over Red Bull’s Verstappen, whilst increasing his 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri to 30. But the top three will head into the final two rounds of the term with less than a Grand Prix win separating them.

Piastri actually gained from McLaren having their first-ever double disqualification in the Las Vegas GP, after finishing behind Norris in P2 and P4 as Verstappen won. The papaya pals were found to have sustained excessive wear to their skid blocks during the Las Vegas GP.

Lando Norris’ move at the start of the Las Vegas GP showed Max Verstappen he cannot ‘take advantage’ of him

The Las Vegas GP was not entirely negative for Norris, though, as Tom Coronel feels he sent Verstappen a clear message with his move to defend the lead at the start of last week’s race. Norris aggressively cut over from pole to defend from Verstappen and secure the inside line.

READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge

Coronel feels that while Norris’ move failed, as he braked too late at Turn 1 and lost the lead to Verstappen anyway, the Briton showed the Dutchman that he cannot “take advantage” of him. Now, the Red Bull racer knows that Norris will not bend a knee ahead of the final races.

Coronel told RacingNews365: “Lando’s taking risks because he has to score points for the championship. Max really doesn’t care, he’s just messing with him. That’s why I was surprised by how aggressive Lando Norris actually was.

“I thought that was powerful of him. He overdid it, that’s true. He’s showing that he’s not going to let anyone take advantage of him. These are secretly the good things.”

McLaren backed to scrap their papaya rules to secure the 2025 F1 drivers’ title

Verstappen felt Norris’ move at the start of the Las Vegas GP was “what you should do”, due to the 150 metre run from pole position to Turn 1. The Dutchman also showed when he ran Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc off at T1 in 2023 that he will force his way down the inside if he can.

But the move ultimately did not matter, as Norris and Piastri were disqualified from the Las Vegas GP after the race, having also lacked the pace to chase Verstappen for the lead. Now, Christian Danner expects McLaren will have to abandon their papaya rules to win the title.

“They promoted this strategy for so long as long as they were comfortably in the lead,” he told sport.de. “I don’t know if they’ll stick with this strategy.

“No matter how often McLaren insist they will, I don’t really believe it because they haven’t been in contention for the title for this long in ages.”

McLaren have insisted all year that they will treat Norris and Piastri equally while they have a mathematical chance to win the title. But Verstappen is only 24 points from the lead, and he can get into the top two in the standings for the first time since April in Qatar this weekend.