The Englishman lost two points to his teammate but gained one on the Dutchman, fending off a brief early-race attack from the Dutchman and then managing the gap all the way to the finish.

Reiterating his comments made immediately after the race, when he said he hadn’t seen Verstappen behind him, Norris stated: “Of course I saw him. He was never too much of a threat at all. My focus was more on George and seeing how I could keep the tyres in a good place for later.

Responding to the Dutchman’s claim that he would have won the championship well ahead of time if the roles were reversed, Norris added: “Max is very welcome to say everything he wants to be honest. He kind of earned the right, he's won four world championships. I have a lot of respect and I think that gives anyone a lot of credit in general. He's achieved an incredible amount, more than anyone generally dreams of achieving.

“Max generally has a good clue about a lot of things, but there's also a lot of things he doesn't have much of a clue about,” he added.

The Englishman, as mentioned earlier, delivered a cautious race, coming close to contact with George Russell at the start before managing his third place without taking any significant risks.

He thus minimized the damage ahead of tomorrow’s Grand Prix, where he has a huge opportunity to seal the championship and claim his first career World Title.