Norris chases place among elite on no normal weekend

With McLaren confirming team orders will be used if necessary to beat Max Verstappen, the 26-year-old Briton really has no excuse.

- Kieran Jackson

With barely any space to squeeze through the dozen-rows-deep horde of reporters and photographers, the three Formula One championship protagonists entered their first arena of the weekend. The FIA has been prone to lapses in common sense at times, but, to the delight of all present, F1's governing body grouped together the top three on Thursday. It made for a background buzz rarely seen in modern-day sporting press conferences.

Lando Norris, leader by 12 points, did his best to defuse the enormity of the occasion. “It’s the same as every weekend, nothing changes,” he began. Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri, flanking the Briton on either side, echoed a similar sentiment. This was all their years of media training at the most simplistic level.

Moments later, a Brazilian reporter couldn’t help but remark: “You all say it’s a normal weekend but, well... it’s not.” This seemed the appropriate cut-through moment.

In top spot, Norris is on the brink of becoming Britain’s 11th F1 world champion, in the sport’s 75th year, and the first McLaren champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008. Verstappen could become just the fourth man to win five world titles. Piastri, 16 points off with only 25 to play for, is looking to become Australia’s first champion in 45 years. Yes, it’s not a normal weekend.

Not least because of the last two rounds, in which McLaren have already scuppered both their drivers in disastrous acts of self-sabotage. First, with the double disqualifications in Vegas, which opened the door for Red Bull’s Verstappen, before last week’s strategy screw-up in Qatar.