Verstappen issues Norris ‘perfect’ warning in F1 title showdown

Max Verstappen believes Lando Norris would have to be "perfect" from now until the end of the season to win the F1 drivers' title, something he says is "very hard" to do.

Despite losing the Dutch Grand Prix to the British driver by almost 23 seconds, the 26-year-old still holds a 70-point advantage in the championship, with just nine rounds remaining.

McLaren is targeting a perfect end to the season, looking to emulate the Red Bull's first drivers' champion, Sebastian Vettel, who went unbeaten after the summer break in 2013.

If Norris can do so, he stands a chance to beat the German driver's late-season point deficit record from the year prior, when he clawed back a 39-point gap to pip Fernando Alonso to the title over the final seven rounds.

Verstappen knows how difficult both will be to achieve. However, the Dutchman does feel his lead can be overturned by Norris, something that is stopping him from getting comfortable atop the standings.

"You can't just calculate it like that," Verstappen replied to media including RacingNews365 when asked if his sizeable advantage in the drivers' championship is comforting. "I would like to win races.

"It's still nine races and some sprint races, so these kind of things can easily be overturned.

"But I also know that you [Lando Norris would] need to have a perfect end to the season. And that, I think, is very hard."

Red Bull still has a 'great lead'

Verstappen finds himself in a precarious situation with the RB20 no longer the quickest car in F1.

If the result in Zandvoort is anything to go by, McLaren could prove a formidable opposition for the rest of the year.

The foundation of the Woking team's success this season has been its ability to substantively upgrade the MCL38 update by update whilst its competitors have often struggled to get the most out of their own development paths.

Red Bull has been unable to keep up with the pace, despite enjoying a substantial performance advantage at the start of the year. The more the team has added and tweaked the car, the more difficult it has become to understand.

Despite this, Verstappen is not willing to start operating defensively, opting to minimise the potential points loss on any given weekend by playing safe with set up.

"I just try to do the best I can, try to find the best possible setup with the car," the three-times drivers' champion explained.

"It's been very difficult to get to that, because we're a bit limited on what we can do with the car.

"Of course I would like to win the championship. We still have a great lead.

"But you can't just go into a weekend like: 'Oh no, we cannot touch the car, because then maybe we lose more points'. 

"You go for it. You want to have the best possible package every single weekend."