Lewis Hamilton has asserted it is “not impossible” for Lando Norris to beat Max Verstappen to the drivers' championship this year. With 10 rounds remaining in the campaign, Norris sits 78 points behind Verstappen in the standings and has largely been the three-time world champion's closest challenger this year. McLaren has developed its way to front-running form and now sits just 42 points down on Red Bull in the constructors' standings. Verstappen's large lead in the standings leaves him as the favourite to take the title, with Hamilton praising Red Bull's season-long strength. “It’s been a minute since I was fighting for the championship, but I think there was a time when I was here where I was 40 or something points behind,” he told media including RacingNews365 . “70 is a big number when you’re against a car that has probably a very, very close to 100% record. “I think it may have dropped down slightly in one of the races when Max’s engine stopped. But otherwise, they’re a very, very highly performant team.

Hamilton sees 'huge challenge' for Norris

Norris has secured just one race victory in the opening 14 rounds but his consistent run to podium results has kept him propped up towards the top of the standings. Verstappen, by comparison, has won seven races - but has failed to emerge victorious at the last four events. With the competition seemingly on par with Red Bull, Hamilton believes there is a slight chance Norris could edge ahead by the end of the year. “It is not impossible, but it is a very, very high, huge challenge and task but absolutely not impossible,” Hamilton said. “They’ve got two very strong drivers that are able to compete against, ultimately, currently, in the championship, one car that’s really up there, doing a lot of the point-scoring on the other side. “So they’ve got something they can work with for sure.”

Most read