Pole-sitter Norris aggressively tried to fend off Verstappen down to the first corner but outbraked himself and lost out to the Red Bull driver plus George Russell at the next turn.
Norris recovered to second place but was disqualified four hours after the Las Vegas Grand Prix for excessive skid block wear underneath the car, as was McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri.
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It means Norris’ lead in the Drivers’ Championship is 24 points over both Piastri and Verstappen with two rounds to go this week in Qatar and next week in Abu Dhabi.
“Pretty embarrassing. I need to learn from Turn One and try to do a better job than I’ve been doing recently,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.
He added in the press conference: “You’ve got to be punchy into Turn One. I was just a bit too punchy, and that cost me. So that’s the way it is sometimes.”
Prior to Las Vegas, Norris had outscored team-mate Piastri for six straight races, with back-to-back races in Austin and Mexico City in October.
But, at the same time, Verstappen has also become an increasing threat in the championship and Norris said, before the McLaren disqualifications, it was “disappointing we are not doing a better job as a team, myself included”.
He added: “I know we won in Brazil, but we weren’t quick enough in Brazil relative to what Max was. They seem very good. Max is doing a very good job and the Red Bull car seems very quick and they are beating us.
“I just hate getting beat, simple as that. I hate that they are quicker at the minute. We’ve got to try and step it up a bit.”
Verstappen simply looking to ‘maximise’ performance
The form guide suggests Verstappen will be Norris’ biggest championship challenger unless Piastri can immediately improve his sub-optimal performances.
The Red Bull driver, who is looking to equal Michael Schumacher’s record of five consecutive titles, won last year’s Qatar Grand Prix and said before the McLaren exclusions that his title chances will depend on how his car performs at the last two rounds.
“We always try to just maximise everything that we’ve got. In Las Vegas we did that, and the upcoming weekends we’ll again try to win the race. At the end of Abu Dhabi, we’ll see where we end up,” he said.
“But I’m very proud of everyone. We’ve had a really up-and-down season and tough times, but also really beautiful moments.
“And we learned a lot throughout the whole season, and that’s also very valuable for the upcoming years.”
Verstappen is on a streak of eight podiums, including four victories, and Norris says Red Bull have been “quicker on average” since they introduced a floor upgrade at September’s Italian Grand Prix.
“When you look at the pace over the last few weeks, they have been quick,” he said.
“When they don’t mess up Qualifying, they will win the race, like they did in Las Vegas and Monza and other races. It’s tight. It can easily go our way and there way. We just have to do a much better job.”
Formula 1’s season-ending triple header continues with the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
