It is a brand or break for Lando Norris this year, for its reputation and its future. This is because the convincing indications of the preseason tests in Bahrain suggest that his McLaren team has the fastest car.
Betting corridors make the 25-year-old British favorite win the World Championship, 7-4 depending on where to take off, with the Max Verstappen defense champion 3-1 second favorite.
The next comes Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton from Ferrari, barely divisible to approximately 5-1.
And, an issue we will return, Norris's teammate, Oscar Piastri, is an intriguing 8-1.
Of course, if a commitment to Norris is to demonstrate a good investment, McLaren must maintain its advantage, which is based on spending most of last season as the fastest artists and becoming world builders champions for the first time this century.
There are also the usual unknowns in the arms race that is formula one, the possibility that a rival guess a technical advance, although with the matured regulations, in its last year before a great review by 2026, the opportunities for the moments of Eureka are limited.
Lando Norris is the favorite of being crowned F1 world champion ahead of Max Verstappen
McLaren seems to have the challenger faster again and must maintain his advantage
Norris could become the 11th British to win a world title, but Verstappen will push him
Which is a long way to say that, prohibits the unexpected, Norris will have the tools he needs to become the 11th man of this country to win a world title, as heir to Mike Hawthorn, who was the first in 1958. Hamilton was the last one in 2020.
The truth is that it is the second time that Norris could have achieved this feat. Last year, after an update in Miami in May, the McLaren was the supreme machine of the grid. I should have won the title, without a doubt, but the resistance and ship of Verstappen's career were unbeatable. Mentally, and on the way, he kept Lando in a vice grip.
It was a shame for Norris because he was driving very well. He was Quicksilver in a lap. But when it was a struggle of the arm, his doll used to hit the table. A myriad of Pole positions were wasted, especially in Austin up the hill towards the first corner, when the fight for the title was alive and fierce.
He is lucky to have another opportunity to play the biggest sport prize.
In fact, sad to inform the public at home, Flounting IT last year was the most striking example of a driver in a upper car that lost the title since Felipe Massa de Ferrari, who slid as a bar of soap in the wet, was defeated by Hamilton, in a McLaren, 2008. As with Vergappen last year, Hamilton was the best in the game. A real reality is directed to the psyche of the runners even as well as Massa and Norris.
There are mitigations for the error of last year. Despite being his sixth season in Formula One, this was Norris's first crack in a title. The team personnel were also oxidized or new in the unique demands to fight on the front, and anyway their main approach was in the Constructors Championship instead of the Crown of the Drivers.
If Norris must fulfill his favorite status and fulfill the final intention of his salary of £ 20 million a year, he has to do at least two things.
First, it must overcome the mental winery that Verstappen seems to have on it, and the Dutch Red Bull seems better than last year with relatively positive vibrations from the world champion camp.
Norris must overcome the mental wait that Verstappen has about him after last year's error
His teammate from McLaren, Oscar Piastri, is a dark horse after an extra year of experience
But Norris has promised not to be intimidated and plans to get his elbows to the duel with the rivals
Norris has promised not to be intimidated. Speaking in Silverstone recently, he said: 'I need to get my elbows. I need to show that I will not voluntarily give it any position.
'I also have to be an intelligent driver. You have to be intelligent to face Max. But I look forward to it. I like having to make quick decisions. It is always much more difficult when you are in the car than when you see it again. But even when I see some things I did, I am like, what the hell have I done? What an idiot.
'But at the same time, I don't want to say that I need to show him something.
'I don't need to take unnecessary risks. It is fast, it is aggressive, it is one of the best, so the easy way is to be faster and stay at the forefront. It means that I want to start the season well.
The other curved ball is located on the other side of the garage: Piastri. The 23 -year -old Australian with two campaigns to his credit is described as a silent murderer.
As a demon behind his level and reasonable personality. Many observers in sports think that his steel will lead him to prevail after an additional year of experience and since McLaren, the most fair of the teams under executive president Zak Brown and the director of the Andrea Stella team, have guaranteed their pair of drivers equal to the state, without differentiation no 1 and no 2.
It may be that Piastri succeeds, not a bad price for him in the betting corridors, but last year he won two races for the four of Norris, he was defeated by 20-4 in the classification and finished 82 points behind his teammate.
Mail sport He spoke with Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, while approaching a flight to Adelaide for a celebration of his victory in the last race organized there 30 years ago. He is a great supporter of Norris.
His reaction to pressure and races against close friends is now the central question before him.
“I still think you can overcome Oscar,” said Hill, who will comment on Australia channel 10 in the opening race next Sunday in Melbourne, having separated from Sky (his difficulties).
'Oscar is brilliant, but Lando has retired a little more when necessary. Oscar is talented, but Lando is a force.
'I think he fell in the trap last year of thinking when he faced Max who was competing against his partner. Actually, despite his friendship, he was facing his worst enemy. And in Max's mind, when he drives, there is only Max.
'Lando blames himself when he makes mistakes. He is very hard with himself. He is not happy if he does not believe that he has obtained 100 percent of his potential. It is a distinctive seal of a great driver. I also like your personality. It is very attractive.
'Because I live in Guildford, McLaren is my local team (in Woking, Surrey). I would like to see that they do well, but not be dominant. I would prefer to be a hard, good fight for fans.
'Formula one is much more complex than when driving. It was relatively simple then. You would receive radio messages occasionally. But often nobody had an idea what to say to help.
'Now the information is fast and fast. Lando is one of those drivers who can take the information without losing a rhythm. '
If Norris can get one on Verstappen, he will raise him to a famous national figure
Hill had to go shortly after imparting those observations, placing his bags on the locker up for the long trip underneath.
Like Norris, he had to deal with a force of nature, where appropriate, Michael Schumacher, who crashed with him in Adelaida in 1994. But climbed to the top two years later, the triumph and Murray Walker with a lump in his throat.
And if Norris, a wonderful talent, can obtain one on Verstappen, the Schumacher of his time in some aspects, only once, it will not only be cathartic after last season, but will elevate him to a famous national figure.
So, there is no pressure then. And Norris's reaction at pressure, in the form of his friends Max, and possibly Oscar, is the central question before him.