The weekend held on the circuit named in memory of Hermanos Rodriguez, while on the one hand relaunched Norris at a global level, bringing him back to the top of the season, also allowed Verstappen to further reduce the gap from the leaders in the standings. Now they are 36 points behind Lando, while before the start of last weekend were 40, compared to Piastri.
Of the three, two drivers are currently very mentally strong. Norris and Verstappen seem to need only the latest push to demolish their rivals' hopes of winning the world championship. Especially the Dutchman, who in the last six races has managed to reopen a seemingly closed world championship. Even Lando Norris, even more so after Mexico, will now find himself in a very positive flow of emotions. The Briton was the author of a quieter route than the Dutchman, but he too, in this last period, always drove quite well. He suffered along with the team in assignments hostile to them, only to be resurrected as phoenix.
Norris' mental match point
When Formula 1 reunites again it will do so at the Brazilian GP on November 7 – 9. The event that we could define as the ‘mental match point' of the season. First of all, let's remember that it will be enriched by the Sprint Race and for this reason it will provide many points. Secondly, when we reach the end of the evening on Sunday 9 November, there will only be 3 races left to finish (plus just one last Sprint).
This means that McLaren, who currently have a 36-point lead over Verstappen with Norris and 35 with Piastri, could give Verstappen the final blow if he can win with one of his drivers, particularly Lando. There is no margin to decide the world champion at Interlagos, but if Max were to exit the Brazilian stage with a gap of more than 50 points, it is not that we want to say that then he will raise the white flag, but will begin to experience a different path, in which resignations will emerge.
As much as the Dutchman says he doesn't think about the world battle, last sunday, just before the end of the race, we all heard the radio team throwing themselves against the wall, very annoyed by the fact that the FIA had questioned the Virtual Safety Car just when it was time to attack Leclerc for second position. He won't think about the World Cup, but he's definitely fighting for it.
Verstappen's mental match point
For him too, Brazil could represent an important mental meeting point. Mathematically, even if he won the Sprint and the race, with his rivals out of contention, he would still fail to overtake them and become the leader of the standings. However, a maximum haul of 33 points was available at the weekend and if he had managed to win them it would have put enormous pressure on the McLaren duo. At least on the one that would get the fewest points between the two.
Piastri's mental match point
The most important mental match point, however, could be scored by Piastri. If Oscar were to win all those points, not only would he be able to regain the leadership immediately, but it would be a result that would give him a lot of confidence. Confidence that if he missed qualifying in Mexico, the Australian found himself back in the race, proving that he is still that cold and decisive driver that we met in the first part of the year. In Mexico, Piastri entertained us with many overtakings and also made one of the best against Russell during the 60° lap.
It could also happen that we don't see the same winner in both the Sprint and the GP on Sunday in Brazil, but there is no doubt that whoever of the three wins the GP will have a greater boost than the others and this will have a strong retaliation on the challenges we could then witness in the last three races of the world championship.
Photo: Red Bull Racing
Read also in italian language: Norris, Piastri e Verstappen verso Interlagos: il match point mentale della stagione
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