Lando Norris has conceded his United States Grand Prix result is a “momentum killer” for his championship hopes.
The McLaren driver's prospects of eating into Max Verstappen's championship lead were boosted after he took pole position on Saturday.
However, Norris ended the race in fourth place after receiving a five-second time penalty for overtaking rival Verstappen outside the track late on.
The penalty promoted Verstappen to third and allowed the Dutchman to increase his margin to Norris in the standings to 57 points with five rounds remaining.
When asked how damaging the result is to his title hopes, Norris told media including RacingNews365: “Quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.
“But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate and just win or anything.”
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Norris adament US GP win was not possible
Ferrari prevailed in the US Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc taking the lead on the opening lap before going on to dominate the race.
Although he lost out on position in the first stage of the race from pole position, Norris asserted he would not have prevailed even if he was leading at the end of the opening lap.
“The fact that Ferrari were so quick today showed they’re just as competitive,” he stated.
“Even if I came around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second, and could only have finished third.
“The one guy I need to beat is Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat today. It was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.
“But we gave it a good shot, I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I have work to do on myself.”
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Join RacingNews365's Ian Parkes, Sam Coop and Nick Golding, as they look back on the US GP and look ahead to this weekend's race in Mexico City. Max Verstappen and Lando Norris' Turn 12 incident is a key talking point, as is the narrative change in both F1 championships.
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