Lando Norris made one ‘unfortunate mistake’ against Max Verstappen which has had a big impact on the Formula One title race.
That is the opinion of British F1 legend Nigel Mansell who has made his title prediction as the championship enters its final stages.
With just seven races of the season to go, Verstappen’s lead over Norris is down to 59 points, with the Brit’s unprecedented title challenge set to go down to the wire.
Red Bull no longer have the fastest car with McLaren now leading the constructors’ standings after a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix where Norris recovered from 15th on the grid to finish fourth, with Verstappen fifth.
Norris had never won a race before May but now has an opportunity to complete a miraculous comeback in the championship, a quest that will continue at this weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix.
And Mansell, speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk via Top Offshore Sportsbooks, believes the 24-year-old can do it and join him on an illustrious list of British F1 champions.
‘Well, anything can happen. The season’s not over until you go past the chequered flag on the last race,’ the 1992 world champion said.
‘I’ve got to say Lando was extremely unlucky in Baku. He had a very unfortunate situation happen to him [in qualifying], which was not his fault or the team’s fault.
‘But then to recover like he did in the race was fantastic. Would have been sixth, but then Red Bull and Ferrari decided to come together on the last but one lap.
‘But it was a great race for McLaren and what a fantastic job they’re doing. I think he can overhaul Max because Red Bull have had fantastic reliability so far and Max only has to have one retirement or problem [to let Lando in].
‘In Singapore, I think they [Red Bull] are going to struggle to be competitive whereas I think that McLaren and Ferrari are going to be very competitive.
‘Anything can happen. I still think there’s a great chance for him to have a good go at the championship.’
Norris and McLaren could and perhaps should have more points with potential wins slipping through the net in Imola, Canada, Spain, Austria, Silverstone, Hungary, Italy and now Azerbaijan.
Some of these can be attributed to driver error and Mansell believes that Norris’ crash with Verstappen while battling for the lead in Austria was a ‘mistake’ from the McLaren man, even if the Red Bull driver was penalised for causing the collision.
‘The other thing that is very unfortunate, Lando just made that mistake of trying to overtake Verstappen on the outside in Austria.
‘Because you can’t overtake a several time world champion on the outside. And that race was his to win, and he could be even closer now.’
While Norris was forced to retire with crash damage in Austria, Verstappen survived and even after his penalty finished fifth and gained 10 points.
Had the incident not happened and Norris gone onto claim victory, the gap in the championship would be down to at the most 42 points, so it remains to be seen how pivotal the crash will prove to be in the title race.