Lando Norris must outscore Max Verstappen by at least three points to extend the title battle to the penultimate race in Qatar, but the British driver will start one place behind the Dutchman in sixth.

Lando Norris insists Max Verstappen would not have won this year’s Formula 1 world championship if he was driving a McLaren. Norris saw his title hopes disintegrate at the last race in Brazil when Verstappen produced one of his best-ever drives to claim victory from 17th on the grid in wet conditions.

Asked to sum up his season in three words, Lando Norris thinks for a long time before settling on an answer. “Pretty damn good,” he says eventually. Then he has another think and downgrades the ‘good’ to ‘decent’.