After Lando Norris saw his F1 2024 title hopes likely crushed in Brazil, the title chase goes on for McLaren in the teams’ standings with Norris abruptly playing down Red Bull as a threat.

The rise of McLaren and Norris in F1 2024 put the charge to fresh title glory for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in danger, though that title race all but ended last time out in Brazil, with Verstappen’s impressive win from P17 on the grid putting him 62 points clear of Norris with three rounds to go. If Verstappen makes the top two in Las Vegas this weekend, he is a four-time World Champion.

Lando Norris sees Ferrari as the threat, not Red Bull

That’s the Drivers’ Championship, but in the Constructors’, things look far more healthy for McLaren who lead the way by 36 points over Ferrari going into the season-ending triple-header, while Red Bull are another 13 points further back.

And speaking to Sky F1 ahead of the Las Vegas GP, Norris was not mincing his words when it came to assessing Red Bull as a contender to make it three Constructors’ titles in a row.

The struggles of Sergio Perez have meant that Verstappen has done the bulk of Red Bull’s points scoring, whereas the Norris/Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc/Carlos Sainz pairings at McLaren and Ferrari respectively have been more balanced.

“After Miami, I already said back then our challenge is not with Red Bull, it’s with Ferrari,” said Norris.

“I’ve said it many many times since, and it was very clear, for a long time, that Ferrari were going to be our biggest contenders over Red Bull.

“So no, there’s almost no focus on Red Bull. There’s focus on executing our own programme, executing our own potential, the rest should take care of itself.”

The ‘focus on ourselves’ approach may come across as a little cliché, but Norris questions what there it to gain focusing on others.

“But people get hung up too easily on teams,” he continued. “What can you do? How can focusing on a team change anything? It doesn’t.

“It’s just chat that people like to come up with and think about and envision.

“We knew our biggest competitor was going to be Ferrari for a long time, and it’s getting closer and closer to being them just against us.”

However, while Norris says this “is exciting for everyone”, from McLaren’s perspective, “it also puts us under pressure.

“We can’t afford a one-point mistake now and at the end of the year, that could be all it takes.”

The Qatar and Abu Dhabi GPs follow Las Vegas to bring F1 2024 to its conclusion.