Lando Norris is world championship material – McLaren chief Andrea Stella

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella insisted Lando Norris is world championship material as the British driver prepares to go behind enemy lines at Max Verstappen’s home race in the Netherlands.

Norris heads into the concluding 10 rounds of the Formula One season as the only realistic contender to dethrone Verstappen. He trails the Dutchman by 78 points – the equivalent of three wins – with 284 points still to play for.

Yet, Norris might have been closer to Verstappen had both he and McLaren not fluffed their lines at the past half-dozen rounds. Norris’ latest mistake arrived in Belgium when he dipped his McLaren into the gravel on the exit of the opening corner and dropped three positions.

He crossed the line a place behind Verstappen despite starting seven spots ahead after his rival served an engine penalty.

It went down as another missed opportunity for the 24-year-old Briton, leading him to admit here in Zandvoort that he is making too many errors and that he has not performed at the level required to land his first world championship – and deliver McLaren their first drivers’ title since Lewis Hamilton triumphed in 2008.

But responding to Norris’ doom-laden comments, Stella said: “It confirms his style. He is self-critical and he tends to look at the half-empty part of the glass.

“But in reality, he has the potential of a world champion, he is performing at world championship level and he is definitely world championship material.”

Stella, who worked with seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and two-time title winner Fernando Alonso at Ferrari, continued: “Lando performs at levels that I have seen in the past in some of the great champions I have had the luck to work with.

“He is on a journey, like the