McLaren’s Lando Norris thinks 26-year-old rival is ‘one of the best’ F1 drivers ever

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McLaren ace Lando Norris feels Max Verstappen is ‘one of the best’ Formula 1 drivers of all time as the Red Bull star dominated en route to his third drivers’ championship.

The 26-year-old has pushed the rest of the F1 grid aside in 2023 with Verstappen winning 17 of the 20 Grand Prix so far. He has even won four of the six Sprint events this season after a double in Brazil. Norris could only finish a close second to the Red Bull driver in both events.

Verstappen stayed out of Norris’ reach throughout the Sao Paulo GP weekend with McLaren unable to match Red Bull’s tyre management. Race pace has been one of the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s main strengths this year. Verstappen has also extracted the car’s full potential.

Verstappen and Red Bull are a match made in heaven in 2023

Few drivers have come close to rivalling Verstappen in the races with the Dutchman getting everything out of his car. Only at the Singapore GP as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz denied Red Bull a perfect season has he truly seemed uncomfortable after struggling to find an ideal set-up.

Red Bull’s dominance in the races has also seen Verstappen grow into a more mature driver. He no longer rushes into an overtake or makes many mistakes as he knows that a chance to complete the overtake will come. But his greater maturity is yet to be tested in a true fight.

The gap Red Bull have held over the Formula 1 field in 2023 plus Verstappen’s talents have been the perfect package. He sits on 524 points in the drivers’ championship having already won the title. Sergio Perez in the other Red Bull ranks second on 258 points so far this year.

Norris rates Verstappen among the best Formula 1 drivers ever

Verstappen has blown Norris away with the extent he has dominated Formula 1 this year in Red Bull’s masterpiece. The Dutchman is now guaranteed to end the season having had the most dominant year in F1’s history. He has beaten Alberto Ascari’s record set back in 1952.

Ascari won six of the eight Grand Prix held en route to the 1952 F1 title. But Verstappen has now won 85% of this year’s Grand Prix and can even finish the season on 86.4%. His figure can only fall to 77.3% with two races to go. F1 heads to Las Vegas before the Abu Dhabi GP.

Dominance of such an extent has further convinced Norris that Verstappen is one of the best Formula 1 drivers yet. He has beaten his own record of the most wins in one season of 15 set in 2022. So, Norris does not think Verstappen’s success can only be down to Red Bull’s car.

He said, via quotes by Sky Sports: “We’re talking about one of the best drivers in Formula 1 ever, in one of the most dominating cars and, obviously, it’s a pairing and things have to go well together.

“But we’re talking about a guy who’s scored 17 [wins] and of the most dominated years in Formula 1 history.”