Lewis Hamilton hopes Lando Norris can take Formula 1 title race ‘to the wire’

Lewis Hamilton said fortune will need to favour Lando Norris to topple Max Verstappen – but he hopes the British driver can take his former rival to the championship wire.

Norris’ emphatic win at the last round in the Netherlands leaves him trailing Verstappen by 70 points with nine rounds and 254 points still to play for.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, seven-time world champion Hamilton said: “There are a lot of points on the table so it is not impossible.

“Max only needs to finish second at every race to win, and Lando would have to win all of those races and that could still not be enough, so there will need to be some fortune in it.

“I hope it goes down to the wire because that will be great for the fans, and with the performance they (McLaren) showed last weekend, maybe they could (win the championship).”

Following two-and-a-half seasons of Verstappen dominance, McLaren have emerged as Formula One’s Tour de Force. Norris won by more than 22 seconds in Zandvoort and the British team are again expected to go well here at Monza’s Temple of Speed.

Norris celebrated the second victory of his career with a low-key dinner out in Monaco before he was forced to push his half-century old Lamborghini Miura back home after it broke down.

“The weekend couldn’t have ended in a worse way but it brings you back to normality,” said Norris with a smile.

Norris is now in his sixth season in the sport and the 24-year-old insisted he is coping with the pressure of being a title contender.

He continued: “Because I struggled with that when I started in Formula One, I feel like I learned how to handle the pressure, and that’s helped me in the position I am now, dealing with more questions and the pressure of everyone thinking that I have to deliver every single weekend. I also know myself that I have to deliver every single weekend.

“Externally, there will be more pressure on me. I still get so nervous for qualifying.

“For the races, I still get just as excited and just as nervous. I don’t eat anything on Sundays. I struggle to drink on Sundays. Just because I’m nervous. But it’s just how you turn it into a positive thing and how do you not let it affect you in a bad way.

“When you have to go out and deliver in qualifying it gives me butterflies every time because you know if you brake a metre too late, or turn in at the wrong time, you are finished, it is game over, and the knowledge of that puts you under an intense feeling that I don’t think is replicated in many sports.”

Norris said it was “stupid” to start dreaming about his maiden title following his crushing win in in Zandvoort. Asked here if the championship is “game on”, he replied: “It has been since the beginning of the year. I answered it last week, and I am not going to answer it again at every race.

“We are pushing hard, and our goal is to catch them, and, especially from the constructors’ side it is more do-able than the drivers’ (championship), but I am doing my best, and the team is doing its best and that is all we can ask for.”