Lando Norris insists it will not be a failure if McLaren team-mate and rival Oscar Piastri beats him to the world title.
Norris’ championship charge is back on track following his win from pole position at the previous round in Austria.
However, he still remains 15 points adrift of Piastri ahead of his home race at Silverstone this weekend.
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Norris closes the gap to Piastri to 15 points 👀#F1 #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/z1pk0XbjKN
With Norris and Piastri pulling clear of their rivals in the individual standings – and McLaren 207 points ahead in the battle for the constructors’ title – Red Bull team boss Christian Horner has already declared a two-horse race for the championship.
Norris started the season as the championship favourite with the bookmakers, but when asked if he thought it would be a failure if he did not land his maiden world crown this year, the British driver replied: “I’d have to say I didn’t succeed in achieving my goal, but I don’t think you can ever call it a failure because I don’t believe like I’ve failed anything.
“I will feel like I didn’t live up to what I believed I could have done or the level I should have reached at certain times. But that’s not a failure by any means.
“If things were much easier, and you don’t achieve your goal, maybe you can call that a failure, but when it is such a long season, competing against the best in the world, I don’t think you can ever call not winning the title a failure.”
Now in his seventh season on the grid, Norris will make his 140th Formula One start at Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
On stage with Osc and Andrea 🤩🫶#McLarenRacingLive | #NeverStopRacing pic.twitter.com/gBZIaWGCWh
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Mistakes by driver and team saw Norris fall short in his bid to beat Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the title last year.
The errors have carried over for Norris this year, particularly in qualifying, which leaves question marks over his championship credentials.
Norris excelled in Austria, but he has never won consecutive races.
He continued: “It is only normal you feel the pressure from the outside world, but that’s not different for me this year.
“It’s more the desire, almost too much desire inside, to want to do such a good job every weekend. I want to do so well, I want to deliver for the team and I want to win. I kind of put myself under too much pressure.
“You never know what to expect when you’re a kid growing up wanting to be in F1. You don’t know about the hard times and the trickiness of achieving your goals, especially when you get so close, how much you can hurt when things don’t go your way. Those things stick with you a bit.”
Norris will be among four British drivers on the grid this weekend, but there is a case to be made the McLaren man is the most popular of the quartet.
Norris has sold out his own 10,000-seated area – the Landostand – at Stowe corner for the weekend.
“It’s very cool because I got it before Lewis (Hamilton) and George (Russell) so that’s the best bit,” added Norris with a smile.
“It is incredible. Originally there was a select amount of seats, they sold out almost too quickly, so we had to buy and then sell a load more.”
