The point of perspective that explains why Norris’s title hopes were not blown in Brazil

One seasoned paddock veteran stopped for a chat after the Brazilian Grand Prix and said that Max Verstappen had proven once again that you can’t stop the fastest driver from winning the championship.

On a day when McLaren and Lando Norris had had every opportunity to smash into its Red Bull rivals’ points advantage – having started on pole while the Dutchman was down in 17th – a masterclass performance from Verstappen has left the destiny of this year’s title pretty much settled.

Only a freak set of circumstances will now prevent Verstappen from capturing what will surely be the best of his world title crowns, considering how much of this year he has been on the back foot with the relative pace of his car.

PLUS: The 10 unseen factors critical to Verstappen's Brazil F1 rise

The victories on the days when others probably held the edge – like Imola, Canada and Spain – were just as impressive as last weekend’s stunning wet-weather performance that was arguably one of his greatest-ever drives.

But while there was clear disappointment from McLaren that the Brazilian GP result was much less than it had hoped for, equally the team was not completely down in the dumps about everything.

And that has been one of the mainstays of team principal Andrea Stella’s oversight at Woking: not getting carried away with the emotions when things go right, and not getting too depressed when they did not. Joy and misery can certainly be allowed to take hold for a few hours, but the day after there is the reset and it is back to business as usual.

McLaren won't waste time sulking after a difficult Brazilian Grand Prix

Photo by: Lubomir Asenov / Motorsport Images

The drivers’ championship was always going to be a long shot for Norris after the summer break, and would require him to get up a head of steam in chipping away at his rival’s points advantage. But for many reasons, it did not quite pan out in the way that was hoped, as small circumstances sometimes allowed opportunities to slip through his grasp.

There was the team orders situation in Italy, where Norris and Oscar Piastri fighting on the opening lap opened the door for Charles Leclerc to win. Baku was another opportunity that went begging as Norris got caught out by the yellow flag in qualifying. Then Austin saw him lose out to some aggressive driving tactics from Verstappen, which ultimately triggered the incident that meant he finished behind the Red Bull rather than in front.

When all the dust eventually settles on this season, McLaren will certainly give some pause for thought about things it could have done better; it will be important to heed the lost chances as it tries to nail what is likely to be a full-scale attack on both world titles next year.

“I think if you make the same question to every team, if they are honest, they will all say ‘yes, we have many opportunities that we should review’" Andrea Stella

Stella himself does not think that this process is anything unique for McLaren though, as all F1 teams have to be in the process of constant improvement.

“I think if you make the same question to every team, if they are honest, they will all say ‘yes, we have many opportunities that we should review’” he said on Sunday night at Interlagos.

“This is our mindset always. If you don’t review the opportunities, you are never going to get better. And while we are in this quest this season, we also want to be in the quest for the championship in the future, so we want to cash in every learning.”

While the review of the year may point towards a sharpened approach to team orders in the future, perhaps a bit more aggression on track from Norris, or better qualifying executions, Stella does not share the view that this was a year where McLaren blew it.

With hindsight, pitting in Brazil was a costly decision. McLaren will add this to its list of lost chances it must review

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Instead, he is very much taking the glass half full approach: that this was always going to be a season of building, and being in the title hunt at all was a completely bonus. As he is quick to point out, the world has only seen the real McLaren since the Miami Grand Prix – so that should be the reference point.

“For me, once we talk about reviewing opportunities, at the same time I would like to review that since we delivered lap time to the car in Miami, McLaren has outscored by far every other competitor,” he said.

“So I think that while we have opportunities, the number of points that we have scored – not necessarily because we have had the best car like I keep repeating, because we had the best car at a few events, not all – it’s just because the team and the drivers operated at very high standards.

PLUS: Brazilian Grand Prix Driver Ratings 2024 

“We take these high standards as a positive, as the foundation to keep building. And to keep building, definitely, you need to look at what you haven’t done perfectly. But this is what we do all the time.

“This is where our culture works very well and hopefully, there will be more opportunities left in the final part of the season. But at the moment, we are extremely happy with what we have been able to achieve and with the standards that we have been operating throughout the season.”

A quick look at the 2024 numbers certainly bolster Stella’s perspective that, if the season had started in Miami, McLaren has not left much on the table. If we take the drivers’ and constructors’ championship standings as though the season started at the Hard Rock Stadium, then things would look very different.

The standings put a very different perspective on things, and ultimately point to the fact that McLaren’s title was not derailed by points going begging in Monza, Baku, Austin and Brazil.

Several winning opportunities slipped away for Norris this year, but the biggest factor in his defeat to Verstappen pre-dates Miami

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Constructors' Championship since Miami

Drivers' Championship since Miami

Instead, it was a championship lost by it not starting in Bahrain with a car that was as quick as it should have been. This gave Red Bull and Verstappen the buffer they needed in those first five races.

So when it comes to the moment where McLaren sits down post-winter to review what went wrong, it knows that there are things it could have done better – but equally, it did an awful lot of things right.

And if it can carry forward the momentum it has had since Miami, to ensure it starts 2025 on the front foot, then there is every reason to feel it has what it needs to take it all the way.

Keep going the way both the driver and team are, and McLaren and Norris could be a real force in 2025

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar