Asked to sum up his season in three words, Lando Norris thinks for a long time before settling on an answer. “Pretty damn good,” he says eventually. Then he has another think and downgrades the ‘good’ to ‘decent’.

Max Verstappen will be Formula One world champion for the fourth year in a row if he beats Lando Norris in Las Vegas this weekend. McLaren’s Norris must score three points more than his Red Bull rival — requiring at least a top eight finish even if Verstappen draws a blank — to delay the inevitable for one more week and continue the title ‘battle’ to Qatar.

Lando Norris insists Max Verstappen would not have won this year’s Formula 1 world championship if he was driving a McLaren. Norris saw his title hopes disintegrate at the last race in Brazil when Verstappen produced one of his best-ever drives to claim victory from 17th on the grid in wet conditions.