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Norris retracts 'no talent, just luck' statement to Verstappen
- Savannah Lenz
Up until the Brazilian Grand Prix, where his championship dreams were snuffed out by Verstappen, Lando Norris had had his first fighting chance at a world title. After the Brazilian Grand Prix, Norris made a controversial comment about how Verstappen's win was all luck and no talent. However, he retracted this statement on stage while accepting his second-place award.
During the championship battle, emotions ran high as Norris and Verstappen gave it their all. Both drivers tried everything they could to earn as many points as possible. The battle for the drivers' title was getting closer and closer until the Brazilian Grand Prix, where Verstappen made it up from P17 to P1 and ended up delivering a major blow to Norris's championship campaign.
Norris takes back what he said.
Noris was clearly upset after he lost to Verstappen in Brazil. He ended up saying that Verstappen won because of luck, not talent. He thought that Verstappen got lucky with the safety car and red flags. However, when Norris joined the stage at the FIA gala, he said, "First of all, I retract that comment back there where I said it was all luck, no talent. You know how the media changes things".
The McLaren driver continued, "Congratulations to Max. What he did this year, what he did in Brazil, of course, was incredible, so I'm the first one to acknowledge such a thing when I'm the one going up against him".
Norris: 'Proud to finish behind Verstappen'
Norris also spoke about his own year: "It was a tough season, of course, I tried to give my best and put up the best battle that I could, but this year was not enough, and at the same time, I'm happy to finish behind Max because I think it's quite an achievement." He also acknowledged that he knows he needs to "step it up and do more than I did this year" and that he is "excited to look forward to next year and try to do the same."
Norris ended his speech on a high note about his team, who won the constructors' championship this year. "The highlight was us as a team finishing the constructors in first position, six years I've been with McLaren driving now. It was a very far-distant, unbelievable thing for us to have thought of many years ago and even at the beginning of this year, so big thanks to Zak [Brown] and Andrea [Stella]".
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.
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