Lando Norris’ reply to F1 title race question says it all as Max Verstappen made to sweat

Lando Norris’ reply to F1 title race question says it all as Max Verstappen made to sweat

Lando Norris leads a McLaren one-two off the line at Monza today and has the chance to take a significant chunk out of Max Verstappen’s championship lead with the Dutchman down in seventh

Lando Norris can blow the F1 title race wide open this weekend with championship leader Max Verstappen well off the pace.

Red Bull went into Saturday’s qualifying session at Monza hoping to be in the mix for pole, but they were more than half-a-second too slow. So Verstappen and Sergio Perez managed only seventh and eighth while championship rivals McLaren locked out the front row.

Briton Norris edged out Oscar Piastri to secure the first grid slot while George Russell will be breathing behind their necks heading down to the first chicane. But Lewis Hamilton was spitting feathers after going just sixth fastest, kicking himself over a failure to fight for pole.

Instead, Norris took the chance to pile the pressure on Verstappen – but he still wouldn’t entertain talk of a title race. The Briton smiled: “I’ve decided whenever someone says championship, from now on I’m just going to say, ‘Pass’.

Lando Norris turns heat up on Max Verstappen and spoils Ferrari party with Italian GP pole

Red Bull baffled by Max Verstappen struggles at Italian GP amid Lando Norris pressure

“It was a good lap – not fantastic. I thought I’d messed it all up… but I nailed the second chicane and basically gained all that time back immediately. I think both my laps were good enough for pole, but it just wasn’t the cleanest. I think it was probably as good as I could do today and we ended up in P1 which was the main target.”

Norris and Piastri have the chance to control the race from the front row but both McLaren drivers have struggled with starts of late. Russell is eyeing an opportunity to be ahead by the time he reaches the first chicane on the first lap and Norris admitted he’s worried about the threat.

The Briton added: “George and Mercedes have been very quick on the high-fuel runs so far. The high-fuel Mercedes looks very, very strong, they can look after the front tyres very well and that’s something we struggled to do a little bit. So they’re definitely not out of it.”

Hamilton wanted to be in that scrap for the lead off the line but is much further down the grid than he had expected. He fumed: “I’m furious, absolutely furious, because I could have been on pole. I think I could have been at least on the front row, but I just didn’t do the job at the end.

“There’s no-one to blame but myself. Qualifying has been my weakness for a minute now and I can’t figure it out, I’ve got to move forwards. I’ve got a good race car and the team has done a good job this weekend. The car has been feeling so much better than the last race, and the team deserves better.”

Earlier in the day, Mercedes finally confirmed that teenager Kimi Antonelli will replace Hamilton when he joins Ferrari next year. Boss Toto Wolff had tried to woo Verstappen but said at Monza he had always viewed the starlet as the top candidate to partner Russell next year. He said: “I made up my mind five minutes after Lewis told me that he’s going to Ferrari.”