Lando Norris and Max Verstappen fight for the F1 title – McLaren boss

McLaren boss Zak Brown is convinced that Lando Norris has a car capable of making up Max Verstappen's considerable lead and turning the 2024 season into a title fight.

At the Dutch Grand Prix, Norris beat Verstappen by a comfortable 22 seconds, a larger margin than in any of his dominant victories earlier in the season.

The result reduced Verstappen's lead to 70 points with nine races remaining and confirmed that McLaren should now go into every round as favourites to win.

“It was a good day at the office,” Brown told SiriusXM. “An impressive performance from everyone. Lando was perfect, team strategy, pace of the car.”

He added: “I thought we had a great pace, 23 seconds or whatever it was, no, I didn't think it would get that far, but it was great to see. Yes, we've thought about it for a couple of races… but it's going to take a while. We have to keep going like we've been doing and it's going to be close. But the game goes on.”

Verstappen's lead means he could potentially not finish the next two races and still lead by at least 18 points, while Norris could score a maximum of 26 points per weekend.

Norris himself said after the victory in Zandvoort that it would be “stupid” of McLaren to get too carried away by the victory, but added that he had always seen himself as a contender for the championship this season anyway.

The victory in the Netherlands was his second in F1 after the Miami Grand Prix in May and ended a frustrating series of missed opportunities in the months that followed.

On the other hand, Verstappen, who won four of the first five races of the season brilliantly, has not won a race since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23 – five races ago.

It is Verstappen's longest winless streak since the 2020 season.