Lando Norris told whose help McLaren driver needs to win F1 title, it’s not Oscar Piastri

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Lando Norris is fighting to win his first Formula 1 drivers’ title but Guenther Steiner feels the McLaren racer will ‘need’ help to dethrone Red Bull rival Max Verstappen.

It is not teammate Oscar Piastri whose help Norris needs, either, with the 24-year-old facing a 52-point deficit to Verstappen with six rounds to go. The McLaren driver must outscore his title rival by 8.6 points per round with a 180 available for six Grand Prix and three F1 Sprints.

Norris cannot rely on winning each remaining Grand Prix, while also setting the fastest lap of the race, plus each remaining Sprint to take the title. Verstappen’s lead will be enough to get his fourth consecutive title if the 26-year-old finishes each remaining event second to Norris.

Guenther Steiner thinks Lando Norris needs Ferrari’s help to win the 2024 F1 drivers’ title

Norris winning each Grand Prix, while taking the extra point for the fastest lap, and F1 Sprint would still see him finish second to Verstappen in the drivers’ championship by a point if the Red Bull man keeps coming home in P2 thanks to Daniel Ricciardo’s fastest lap in Singapore.

So, former Haas team principal Steiner – who also worked at Red Bull in 2005 – thinks Norris needs help from Ferrari above all for the McLaren ace to pip Verstappen to the 2024 drivers’ title. Steiner feels the Scuderia are Norris’ best bet to put more cars between the title rivals.

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Given Norris’ need for outside assistance to dethrone Verstappen ahead of the 2024 United States Grand Prix, Steiner only makes the McLaren driver a ’60-40’ favourite to win the title. But if Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz come to Norris’ aid, his odds will improve.

“I give it 60-40 for Lando,” Steiner told RacingNews365. “I think the momentum has gone [in Norris’ favour] but where Lando needs a little bit of help is from Ferrari.

“If they take points away from Max – like should have happened in Singapore – but as they didn’t qualify to their liking, they missed out on a [better result].

“Otherwise, if they would have got one or two cars between Max and Lando, immediately that is a big points difference and then it is a different position. That’s why I give it 60-40 to Lando because he does need a little bit of help.”

Carlos Sainz’s crash in qualifying hampered Ferrari at the Singapore Grand Prix

Despite McLaren boasting the best car in Formula 1 since Norris took his maiden win at the Miami Grand Prix, the Woking outfit have only recorded a one-two finish once when Piastri penned his maiden win at the Hungarian Grand Prix – edging Norris after their team orders.

McLaren have only seen both of Norris and Piastri get on the rostrum at the same race three times this term, too, thanks to their podiums at the Hungarian GP, the Italian Grand Prix and the Singapore Grand Prix. Verstappen split the McLaren pair as Norris won the Singapore GP.

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Steiner thinks Ferrari might have done more at Marina Bay, and inadvertently helped Norris, had Sainz not crashed at the start of Q3 for the Singapore GP. Leclerc also failed to set a lap time in Q3 after exceeding track limits at Turn 2 on his only attempt, thanks to Sainz’s shunt.

The Scuderia stars then made tepid progress through the 62 laps – just a year on from Sainz holding Norris off to win the 2023 Singapore GP. Leclerc finished the Singapore GP in just P5 and 62.430 seconds behind Norris, while Sainz took P7 with a 96.039s margin to the winner.