Herbert: It's too late for Norris to beat Verstappen

Norris currently sits 57 points adrift of Championship leader Verstappen with five rounds to go in the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship. This grew after a subpar United States Grand Prix weekend, which saw the McLaren driver finish behind his rival in both the Sprint race and the main event.

The Sunday race was one of controversy, as Norris was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage while attempting to overtake a slower Verstappen for third position. This dropped the Briton back down to P4, while the Dutchman held on to clinch the final step on the podium by less than a second.

Red Bull started this year as the dominant force, as they had done in the previous two years. However, cracks started to appear in the Milton Keynes-based outfit's form in conjunction with their Chief Technology Officer Adrian Newey's confirmed departure, and McLaren overtook them as the fastest overall package.

The Woking-based team dominated proceedings in Hungary, where they produced a straightforward one-two finish. However, this race was also marred by controversy as Norris was forced to concede P1 to teammate Oscar Piastri in the dying moments by his own team.

Speaking exclusively to GRANDPRIX247, three-time Formula 1 race winner Johnny Herbert has blamed the impact of the Hungarian Grand Prix for Norris' failure to close the gap to Verstappen in the Standings.

When asked if Norris could challenge Verstappen for the Drivers' Title, Herbert responded: "Can Lando do it? He's maturing, finally. And this is where maybe it's too late where McLaren are now backing him.

As well as increasing Norris' points deficit to the Championship leader, Herbert believes that the rushed decision made by McLaren on that day may still be affecting the driver mentally.

He added: "That was the time that they should have allowed him to win that race. Because I think it does two things. One, it's points, sure.

"But second, it's mental. Because then you feel the team is actually giving you their full backing. Well, they took a couple of races for that to happen. And of course, you lose out because of that. He's in a good place because they're behind him. But I think it's too late."

Herbert thinks that the only way that Norris could potentially steal the crown from Verstappen is if other competitors start beating the Dutch driver on a more regular basis: "They're going to be in the mix. they're going to take points probably more so off of Max.

"That's what Lando needs. He needs a little bit of help from the others to take those points away from them."

Norris will be hoping to get himself back in the fight at the Mexican Grand Prix, which commences Sunday 27 October at 20:00 GMT (14:00 local time).