Max Verstappen enrages Lando Norris after claiming he would have won F1 world title in a McLaren

The fued between newly crowned world champion Max Verstappen and his closest rival Lando Norris has reached boiling point as the Red Bull driver claimed he would have won the title if he was driving Norris’s car.

As Red Bull and McLaren wage a new war in the hunt for the contructor’s championship in a three way battle with Ferrari, the Dutch driver prompted a fiery response from British ace Norris, who claimed he ‘should do comedy’.

Hot on the heels of a calculating drive to finish fifth and ahead of Norris to win the world championship in Las Vegas, Verstappen did not mix his words in a brutal assessment of Norris’s ability to challenge for the crown.

Speaking in the wake of his triumph in sin city, Verstappen claimed he would have won the championship “a lot sooner” if he’d been driving Norris’s McLaren.

“He should start doing comedy or something,” responded Norris on Thursday.

“He can say whatever he wants. I completely disagree. He is good - but it is not true.”

Verstappen’s Red Bull team are only third in the constructors’ standings heading into the penultimate round of the season in Qatar this weekend, while McLaren hold a 24-point lead over Ferrari with the British team on course to win their first title in 26 years.

As it stands, Verstappen would become the first driver since Nelson Piquet to win the title with his team so low in the constructors’ standings. Jack Brabham finished third when Piquet took the title in 1983.

Verstappen will begin his championship parade in Doha, but the build-up to round of 23 of 24 takes place against the backdrop of increased uncertainty within the FIA.

It has emerged that long-standing chief steward Tim Mayer was removed from his role by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem. The deputy race director for Formula One’s feeder series, Janette Tan, has also left her post.

The upheaval comes a fortnight after F1 race referee Niels Wittich was stood down.

George Russell, fresh from his third career win in Las Vegas, criticised the decisions.

Russell, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said: “Just when we have asked for transparency and consistency we are getting rid of two highly important people in the governing body, so it has gone a full 360.

“We still don’t have any reasoning for Niels’ removal. I don’t think anyone was informed about Tim leaving, and the first I heard about the new race director for Formula Two this weekend was through the media.

“In any organisation if you have got people leaving, or a change of personnel, it is never going to be a stable environment. That is very challenging. And it must be super challenging for everybody within the FIA right now.

“So, we would love to get clarity and understanding of what is going on and who is getting fired next.”

with AAP.