Norris’ title defence goes badly wrong: Nothing more could have been done

Lando Norris will not join the ranks of drivers who followed their maiden world title with a second in succession. The British driver is at risk of recording the worst season by a defending champion in almost 30 years.

Since Jacques Villeneuve’s title-winning 1997 season, no champion has finished lower than fifth in their title defence. Alongside Villeneuve, Lewis Hamilton (2009), Jenson Button (2010) and Sebastian Vettel (2014) have all finished fifth during that period. Nico Rosberg did not defend his crown at all.

Lando Norris currently sits sixth, 22 points behind fifth-placed Leclerc. “I know I’ve had a pretty horrible defensive title, but there’s not much more I could have done. I feel like I’ve driven a very, very good season.”

McLaren initially struggled with an unreliable car, then a lack of performance, while in recent weeks the car has been too much on a knife-edge. “We just have another car [to Mercedes] and that’s nothing that’s really in my control. From my side, I feel I’ve done my very best, and the races where I could fight against him I feel we’ve had good fights and it’s been a good season from that perspective,” he said, reflecting on Antonelli’s season. “But I’m more than happy to pass the number one over to him because he deserves it easily more than anyone.”

Kimi Antonelli hinted ahead of the weekend that he would not follow in the footsteps of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris. All indications are that he will retain his number 12 next season, despite being entitled to race with number 1 as world champion.

Antonelli’s run-in to the end of the season is, after all, far less tense than Norris’s was. “He’s winning a world championship and he’s going to win the world championship. I don’t think anyone really cares how you do it honestly, they shouldn’t,” the Bristol-born driver reflected.

Many will argue that Antonelli does not deserve the title and has only won it thanks to having the fastest car. !He has done an incredible job and I would say he has done it in a pretty incredible way. People are saying he hasn’t had any tough competition this year but that proves exactly the point that he has done such an incredible a job.”

Meanwhile, on the other side of the garage, George Russell is at risk of losing even second place. Antonelli has shown his quality. “He’s got a very, very talented team mate that he’s beaten through the whole season. So I have nothing but respect for Kimi and he’s a very, very nice guy. We get along very well and I’m more than happy to pass the number one over to him.”

“He’s done an incredible job, especially in his second year in Formula 1, to be the youngest world champion, all of these things that he’s going to achieve, that’s pretty insane. So I’m more than, happy, I enjoy seeing other people have that kind of success, so it’s nice to see,” he concluded.