Jenson Button reveals intriguing F1 title favourite in three-way fight

Jenson Button has tipped Lando Norris as the favourite to win this year’s F1 world championship.

Norris sits second in the championship, 14 points behind McLaren teammate and Oscar Piastri with 141 points left up for grabs across the remaining five race weekends.

The Briton has enjoyed recent momentum in the title battle and outscored Piastri across the past four events since suffering a heartbreaking retirement at the Dutch Grand Prix.

And 2009 world champion believes Norris is the driver in the ascendancy, despite Max Verstappen’s extraordinary recent form that has seen the Red Bull driver cut Piastri’s advantage down to 40 points.

“I would say Lando, at the moment, is looking the strongest,” Button said during Sky Sports F1’s coverage of the United States Grand Prix.

“He’s got the confidence and I think it will come to him in terms of the car over the next few races.

“I would say Lando [is the favourite for the championship], but Max is coming strong, isn’t he?”

‘Confidence’ with Norris, 'negativity' with Piastri 

Speaking earlier ahead of the United States Grand Prix, Button predicted that Norris would go into the remaining five races with a lot of confidence if he could beat Piastri in Austin.

“He seems very positive in the last couple of races. Obviously, the incident in Singapore wasn’t good; you never want to touch your team-mate in a racing scenario,” Button explained.

“He seems confident in himself and, from the word go, he’s had three tenths on Oscar and it’s continued throughout the whole of the weekend. If he’s able to come out on top here, it’s a lot of confidence going into the rest of the season, and it’s more difficult then for Oscar as well.

“You go in completely different directions, so the confidence is with Lando, and the negativity is more with Oscar, which we never thought would happen with Oscar! But it happens, we’re all human. It’s sport - mentally, this sport is so tough.”

Norris and Piastri crashed out on the opening lap of the sprint race, but Norris got the better of his teammate in qualifying and finished second in the grand prix. 

Piastri, who was out of sorts all weekend, could only take fifth behind the two Ferraris.