F1: Lando Norris Admits Falling Short of World Champion Performance

Lando Norris wants to take a bite out of championship leader Max Verstappen at this weekend's home Dutch Grand Prix, just when the summer break arrives. He is confident enough to say that he can still get back into the title battle despite "not performed at the level of a world champion" so far this season. Norris is 78 points adrift of Red Bull's Verstappen with 10 races left 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," Norris told BBC.

Norris and McLaren enter the second half of the season with a chance to bridge the gap on Red Bull's 42-point advantage in the constructors' championship. Not only Norris himself, but also his teammate Oscar Piastri wants to do everything possible to catch Verstappen in the drivers' standings.

"For the team, of course we can do it," Norris said. "As a driver it's still in reach but it's 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 very tough challenge but, with how I know I can perform when things click, I still want to believe it's possible."

Norris felt that small errors throughout the first half of the season 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."

Norris' chances at Zandvoort this weekend will be boosted by an upgrade to the McLaren car—their first performance enhancement since the one introduced in Miami back in May that 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," he 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.