Lando Norris offered a different take on Max Verstappen's 2024 title victory as Formula 1 rocked up in Qatar: that Sergio Perez's poor performances have actually made things harder for the Dutchman.
Verstappen made headlines for saying after last weekend's title-clinching race in Las Vegas that he would have secured his fourth successive world title "even earlier" had he been driving a McLaren or Ferrari, around Red Bull's RB20 going off the boil after starting the year as clearly F1's best car.
But while Verstappen's four wins from the opening six races meant he had a 53-point lead over Norris by the time McLaren got on top of its MCL38 challenger, one element that appeared to work considerably in Verstappen's favour after the pecking order at F1's head converged is how he had no opposition from within Red Bull.
For Norris at McLaren and Charles Leclerc at Ferrari, both of Verstappen's closest two challengers in the 2024 title battle have lost significant points thanks to their respective intense challenges from team-mates Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz.
Norris lost the lead in Hungary with Piastri's first corner attack before that race exploded with McLaren's team orders farrago, while the pair's lap one battle at Monza opened the door for eventual winner there, Leclerc, who himself has endured five instances (Bahrain, China, Spain, Austin and Las Vegas) where Sainz has fought him savagely.
But when Autosport/Motorsport.com pointed this out to Norris in the Qatar GP paddock ahead of this weekend's penultimate event of the 2024 season, the Briton highlighted instead how this could actually work against Verstappen.
"I mean, there's pros and cons," he replied. "There's pros in that he has to do all of his work on his own, which is hats off to him.
"He doesn't have someone who is pushing him, he doesn't have someone trying other things with the car – you can't do A-B tests and things like that because the data is not as valuable when you don't have someone who is performing at the same level.
"There's a lot of things that Max can do that are phenomenal – driving at the level he does consistently without a team-mate that can push him in any way, [it] certainly makes his life harder from that perspective. Also from a team perspective.
"But, at the same time, yeah, there's no pressure. He doesn't have to beat anyone in his own team and that comes with some comfort.
"But they go together. Sometimes and in some ways, I like having a bit of pressure because it makes me do a slightly better job."
But, given how the impact of intra-team battling at McLaren and Ferrari cannot be denied within the story of Verstappen's successful 2024 title hunt, Norris intriguingly added that "I hope at some point he has one that can challenge him a bit more".
As Leclerc did earlier on Thursday at the Losail circuit, Norris also rebuffed Verstappen's suggestion about doing better with either an MCL38 or SF-24 rather than an RB20 in 2024 – albeit with a large dollop of good humour.
"He should start doing comedy or something," Norris joked when Autosport/Motorsport.com put Verstappen's words to him.
"He can say whatever he wants. Of course, I completely disagree, as I would. He's good, but… It's not true."
