Max Verstappen is absolutely unstoppable at the moment, as he effortlessly raced his way to a whopping 16th Grand Prix victory of the season in Mexico. However, despite the heightened ability on the track and the subsequently marvelous results, the three-time world champion wasn’t necessarily the talk of the town on Sunday. Instead, all eyes were on his closest competitor, Lando Norris.
The young British driver looked competitive through Friday’s practice sessions and was tipped to join Verstappen on the front row for the race. However, quite unfortunately, a terrible miscalculation coupled with a tiny on-track mistake forced Norris to a bitter Q1 elimination.
Hence, starting the race from the 9th row, not a lot was expected of Norris. Not to forget, the conditions were firmly stacked against Norris and pretty much the entire grid from battling on the track; the ineffective slipstream, persistent engine and brake overheating, and more such factors.
Lando Norris was a man on a mission in Sunday’s race 🙌
The McLaren driver charged up the order from P17 to P5! #F1 #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/vI8H1JTK8R
— Formula 1 (@F1) October 30, 2023
But, boy did the leading McLaren driver defy all the odds to accomplish one of the greatest comeback drives of his entire career. Despite falling prey to an untimely pit stop followed by quite an expensive evasive action during the race restart, Norris battled his way to what initially seemed like an impossible P5 at the chequered flag.
The commentators, the spectators, and of course, the entire McLaren garage were in absolute awe of the Briton’s stupendous driving display. Take a look at how the team boss, Andreas Stella, reacted to Norris’ magical show at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Furthermore, the Italian engineer also described the scenes in the garage as Norris crossed the finishing line behind Carlos Sainz.
McLaren F1 boss reveals the reaction of Lando Norris’ race engineer
Stella revealed that he couldn’t accept the statement of Norris’ race engineer, Will Joseph, and had the urge to correct it. “His race engineer Will Joseph turned to me and said to me that’s one of the best of Lando. I said, Will, that’s one of the best of all… One of the best races for a driver that I’ve been part of,” Stella said following the Mexican GP.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella full of praise for Lando Norris:
“His race engineer Will Joseph turned to me and said to me that’s one of the best of Lando. I said, Will, that’s one of the best at all… One of the best races for a driver that I’ve been part of.” #F1 #MexicoGP
— Phillip Horton (@PHortonF1) October 29, 2023
Overall, after a string of bitter weekends, Norris has finally proved to the entire Formula 1 community why he could well be the next in line for the throne. There is no denying that Norris’ confidence would’ve skyrocketed following the weekend in Mexico. Now, with a couple of races to go, how many points can Norris gain?