Lando Norris believes his McLaren team were simply “not ready” to win an F1 drivers’ championship this year after Max Verstappen sealed the title in Las Vegas. Verstappen finished fifth, a spot above Norris, in Sin City and now has an unassailable lead in the drivers’ championship with two races left.

Verstappen responded with the greatest display of his F1 career. In rainy conditions, he charged through to victory, taking the lead at the same moment Norris slid down the order after a mistake at Turn 1. A symbolic moment of the diverging paths of their title aspirations.