McLaren pair must beware 'cut-throat' Max Verstappen or title hopes could disappear into thin air

It was a struggle for oxygen at the top of the world championship standings even before the circus arrived in Mexico City's thin air.

Outside Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, multi-lane roads of bumper-to-bumper traffic belch out emissions in a sprawling metropolis net-zero forgot. Inside the paddock, ahead of this weekend's race in front of some 130,000 excitable fans, Lando Norris sits in the McLaren hospitality area, 7,400ft above sea level.

It might be cod psychology, and is hardly infallible, but experience indicates that you can fairly accurately foretell Norris's prospects for the weekend from his demeanour as he sits down at each race with half-a-dozen or so of us British daily newspaper reporters.

Sometimes he exudes confidence. Other times he is diffident. He can be cheerful (he is usually this, whatever the situation). He can in turns be willing or reluctant to embrace the conversation.

Well, he was more engaged in Austin a week ago than here. This time, sorry to report Lando fans, he was a little more fidgety, pulling at his waist band, crossing his arms, not as keen for thoughtful answers or introspection as in the States.

The Briton is actually sitting pretty: 14 points behind his team-mate Oscar Piastri at the summit with five grands prix and two sprints remaining. Yet Max Verstappen leaves them both gasping for breath. 

The Red Bull 'phenom' has zoomed from 104 points back to just 40. Three wins in four races has seen to that. He is 'cut-throat', as Lewis Hamilton observed on Thursday, adding that the Dutchman would again prevail unless Norris and Piastri 'put their blinkers on' and match his ruthlessness.

Still, there is good news for Norris this weekend. As we reported, the unspecified 'consequences' visited upon him by McLaren for clipping Piastri in Singapore have been wiped away. It's all level after Piastri bumped the pair of them out of the sprint in the US. As Piastri said: 'It's a clean slate.'

Is Norris relieved? 'Better for my interests,' he said with a slight shrug. 'I don't know whether relieved is the right word. It's not as if I was sweating before. It gives me a better chance.'

Could he shed any more light on what those 'consequences' would have been? 'No,' he smiles.

All very cryptic, but with everything put right between him and Piastri it is understandable that he does not want to provoke fresh controversy. Let sleeping dogs lie.

He is concentrated on the demands of the weekend, with 22 per cent less oxygen here. This places extra strain on the engine and all air-dependent systems in the car – brakes and tyres, high among them. They run hotter here, cooling proving more difficult.

There is also the longest run into the first corner of all tracks, 900 yards. A theory is that you are better off starting second and getting a tow than starting from pole. But you can hardly aim for second, the margins obviously being way too small for such minute calculation.

Clearly, qualifying is now more important than at the start of the season when the McLarens held such a pace advantage that they could put right a deficit over the course of a race. No such luxuries now with Verstappen and his machine on fire.

Austin underlined this truth, Verstappen romping it from pole. Norris was stuck behind Charles Leclerc's Ferrari for much of the race. Perhaps Norris was too ponderous making the pass, which he finally did. Perhaps he was wise to play the percentages, for he has finished ahead of Piastri in the last four races, a certain wind behind him.

'I'm in a good position, second in the championship,' said Norris, when it was suggested he was creeping up under the radar with all eyes are trained on the Verstappen charge. 'I'd probably rather be first but I have nothing to lose. I'm in a comfortable place.

'I'm also not a guy who believes in momentum. Every weekend is so different.

'I've just been performing well recently, and I'll continue that. Same as Max has been doing very well recently.

'You have weekends where things suit you a bit better. There are days when I can't get as much out of the car as Oscar does. And there are days I get more out of the car than Oscar does.

'But it's impossible to figure out. Still, even at this point of the year, understanding how to take every type of corner, how to produce every lap in every condition, is not something I can do anywhere near as well as last year. It is not an easy car to drive but it is the best I have driven.'

As for Norris saying he feels comfortable? This is a relative judgment. He did not, for example, cut the content, even chipper, easy-smiling manner of the Dutchman who had just spoken in Red Bull a few minutes earlier.

'For me, it's just positive pressure,' said Verstappen, and one believed him. 'I'm loving what I'm doing. If the car is competitive, it's much better to be racing in it than when it's not.'

My goodness it is a competitive Red Bull, helped by the new floor introduced in Monza last month, delivering extra downforce and new setup possibilities.

'Worst case, I'm still P3, right?' added Verstappen, ominously a five-time winner in Mexico and the master of a pragmatism that serves him well. 'I just want to try to win races until the end of the season. We had a good run and we know as a team that it needs to be perfect for us to have a chance.

'So, if it works, then great, an unbelievable comeback.

'Of course, I've won championships very late, very early. This one is very different because I think for most of the season it was a lot harder for us. To still be in this fight is very surprising but I take it.'

Hence why oxygen is in short supply at McLaren.