Martin Brundle tells Lando Norris what he ‘lacks’ in F1 championship fight with Max Verstappen

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The Sao Paulo Grand Prix will be remembered as one of Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s greatest victories in Formula 1.

The Dutch driver moved up 16 positions throughout the race before comfortably coming home ahead of Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly to extend his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

It was a nightmare end to what looked set to be a crucial weekend for McLaren star Lando Norris.

Norris had managed to win Saturday’s Sprint Race, with a little help from teammate Oscar Piastri.

The Australian stepped aside and helped facilitate a three-point swing in the driver’s standings, closing the gap to 44 points.

However, Norris couldn’t convert his pole position start in Sunday’s race into another important victory.

George Russell beat him off the line before a poorly-timed pit stop put him behind Verstappen, and a mistake on the final safety car restart meant he could only finish sixth.

Martin Brundle has told Sky Sports that he thinks Norris still lacks some experience and the killer instinct to be a world champion.

However, Brundle also suggested that Norris will use this as a learning experience for future challenges.

Martin Brundle tells Lando Norris he lacks ‘killer instinct’ after the Sao Paulo Grand Prix

Brundle was asked if there’s anything in particular Norris has to correct and said: “I think it’s everything, the level he’s at.

“I mean, he’s had some amazing victories and not least in Zandvoort and Singapore where he just ran off and hid, a little bit like Max.

“But, he lacks the experience of challenging for a world championship and I think that’s a whole new set of challenges and rules and that’s what he will learn from this year.

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

“Sometimes you wonder if he lacks the killer instinct up against Max who we know can be pretty brutal in combat.

“I think Lando will learn a lot from this season and I think Max winning seven of the first ten races, pretty much put him out of reach really.

“If you add all that up to get there, it was always going to be in these final few races really, Lando needed to take a chunk of points out of Max every single race and hope that there was his teammate, a Ferrari or two or even a Mercedes or two between them.

“But one turnaround like yesterday in Brazil and that little escapade was over by and large unless a lot of bizarre things happen now in the final races.”

Lando Norris shares which driver ‘deserved to win’ Brazilian Grand Prix instead of Max Verstappen

The timing of the red flag at Interlagos was costly for Norris but the way Verstappen was driving meant he would have found his way to the front of the pack sooner rather than later.

Norris suggested Russell deserved to win in Brazil, even though he managed to overtake him just before the first safety car came out.

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

The young Brit will need to regroup now and hope Verstappen records three DNFs in the final three Grand Prix to stand any chance of overcoming the deficit.

Marc Priestly criticised Norris’s lack of preparation after he made an error with the starting procedure after Lance Stroll’s crash forced an aborted start.

Small mistakes like that can be costly and when battling someone as talented as Verstappen, he’ll capitalise on the tiniest of errors.