Button concerned about Norris "Put disappointing qualifying behind him'

'Norris is very emotional'

Lando Norris is currently trying to catch Max Verstappen for the 2024 World Driver's Championship. However, he suffered a difficult start to the US Grand Prix weekend, only managing to finish fourth in Friday's sprint qualifying, whilst Verstappen finished on pole. 2009 world champion Jenson Button is worried about Norris keeping his emotions in check to avoid any more mistakes this weekend.

"It's a difficult one because Lando is very emotional," Button began speaking to Sky Sports. "When he makes mistakes, he always points at himself, which is good in a way. I just hope he can put the disappointing qualifying behind him. Do the debrief, get over it and move on. It was a snapshot in time. If he does that, I think he can still have a good race from fourth."

Norris himself criticised his lap in sprint qualifying, calling it "shocking". However, Button's fellow Sky Sports pundit Anthony Davidson disagrees. "I wouldn't call it shocking, but there was definitely more in that McLaren. The good thing is that it is very close at the font and who knows what he can do in terms of race pace," the former F1 driver said.

Button piles praise on Verstappen

Whilst being worried about Norris, Button had no concerns for Max Verstappen, after the Dutchman stole pole position for the sprint race from George Russell, beating the Brit by 12 thousandths of a second. "He is always on top. There is no moment when he is not making the most of what he has," the former McLaren driver said. "He put that lap down, got a great starting position with that and that keeps him out of trouble."

This article was written in collaboration with Nicole Mulder.

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