Lando Norris believes his McLaren team were simply “not ready” to win an F1 drivers’ championship this year after Max Verstappen sealed the title in Las Vegas. Verstappen finished fifth, a spot above Norris, in Sin City and now has an unassailable lead in the drivers’ championship with two races left.

Lando Norris has refuted Max Verstappen’s claim he would’ve won the title “even earlier” in the McLaren, the Briton adamant Red Bull’s early-season advantage could not be overcome. Verstappen and Red Bull picked up where they left off last year with an emphatic 22-second victory at this year’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix where he led home a Red Bull 1-2.

Max Verstappen believes he could have become a champion earlier these season with a McLaren, he even told Zak Brown on Sky Sports following the Las Vegas GP. However, Lando Norris disagrees with that view.