Lando Norris gives telling six-word verdict as Max Verstappen mind games continue

Lando Norris has stated that the Drivers' Championship title is still Max Verstappen's 'to lose' with seven races remaining. The McLaren driver has made consistent inroads since the summer break, and this weekend promises to be a major opportunity for a significant points gain.

Heading into the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, Norris trails Verstappen by 59 points, but the Marina Bay Street Circuit is a known outlier for the Red Bull team. Both of their drivers were eliminated in Q2 here last year, and the reigning champion has never won at the track.

In the FIA press conference on Thursday, Verstappen said that he would be happy to make Q3, while McLaren are once again the favourites for victory. The Woking-based outfit are also the Constructors' Championship leaders after they moved 20 points clear of Red Bull in Azerbaijan.

"It's still for him to lose, not for me," Norris said when probed about the title battle in Singapore. "I'm still the one that's got nothing to lose at the minute. If you go back to the beginning of the year, Red Bull were still dominant.

"I mean they won about the first four or five races of the year. Max had like the first eight pole positions of the year and they were beating us by bigger margins than we're beating them by. So they're having a less difficult time than we had at the beginning of the year.

"So they're still more in the race than what we were at the beginning of the year. We've turned things around and at the same time, I strongly believe that they can still turn things around quite quickly.

"Really it's only been the last two where I would say that they've been off the pace both a little bit in qualifying but also, and probably more so, the race itself. So I think people just need to look more specifically at what things are obvious and in front of them and not make judgements or general stuff."

Norris will have the aid of team-mate Oscar Piastri as he looks to eat into Verstappen's 59-point advantage over the coming seven races, although the Australian could still take points off his rival if the Brit's qualifying record doesn't improve.

In Baku last weekend Norris was eliminated in Q1, while Piastri went on to put his McLaren on the front row. From there, the 23-year-old surged past Charles Leclerc and claimed his second Grand Prix victory with one of the great defensive drives of the modern era.