Zandvoort, Aug 22 (IANS): After the summer break, Lando Norris is gearing up to challenge the championship leader Max Verstappen at his home Dutch Grand Prix on the weekend.
Despite having "not performed at the level of a world champion" so far this season, Norris feels he can fight back for the title battle. Currently, Norris is 78 points behind Red Bull’s Verstappen with 10 races to go in the season.
"I’m still very happy with how the season’s gone, but just one too many mistakes and a few too many points given away. Which is not the level I need to be at if I want to fight for a championship and fight against a driver like Max," BBC quoted Norris as saying.
Norris and McLaren enter the second half of the season with an opportunity to close Red Bull's 42-point lead in the constructors' championship. Both Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri are determined to do everything they can to catch Verstappen in the drivers' standings.
"For the team, of course (we can do it)," Norris said. "As a driver, it is still within reach but it is a lot of points and it’s against Max.
"I want to be optimistic and say there are still chances. I know it’s a lot and it’s going to be a very difficult challenge but, with how I know I can perform when things click, I still want to believe it’s possible."
Norris said that a series of small errors in the first half of the season has let them down.
"In the first half of the season, I have not performed at the level of a world champion," he said. "Simple as that. At times I have. Many races I have. But little things have let me down along the way and those are things I can’t afford. In the last few races, I have not been at the level I need to be at."
Norris’ prospects at Zandvoort this weekend are bolstered by an upgrade to the McLaren car—their first performance enhancement since the one introduced in Miami in May, which propelled them into the leading pack.
"We have some things on the car this weekend. We’ve not really had an upgrade since Miami. And a lot of other teams have done," Norris said.
"So it’s about time, but in a good sense, we have taken our time to try to understand things well. We have seen other teams put things on the car and they’ve not worked, and we wanted to avoid that," he added.