Lando Norris finished less than a second behind Max Verstappen at Imola as McLaren once again flexed their muscles and took the fight to Red Bull with their upgrades.
Lamenting his missed opportunity, Lando Norris believes that he required an additional lap in order to surpass Max Verstappen and secure the triumph at Imola.
Despite starting on pole position and leading the race throughout, the Red Bull star faced challenges towards the end. After establishing a modest advantage in the first 50 laps, he encountered difficulties following a tire change, allowing Briton Norris to narrow the gap.
As Norris crossed the finish line, he trailed Verstappen by a mere seven-tenths of a second. Reflecting on his performance, Norris expressed satisfaction with his result but couldn’t help but ponder what could have transpired had he been given one more lap. He exerted maximum effort and pushed relentlessly to catch up and seize an opportunity.
Unfortunately, once you get within two seconds, downforce decreases and the tires overheat again. I had a tough time for a few laps… but on the final lap, I finally caught up.
Just seven-tenths more, one extra lap, and he would have had to defend into turn one. Maybe something could have happened, but it was just one lap too late. It’s disappointing, but that’s just how it goes… We were expecting colder weather today, so we set up the car for that. I ended up paying the price for it.
Verstappen is accustomed to always getting his way, but he acknowledged that he had to put in effort to secure his fifth victory of the season. Throughout the race, he had to maintain maximum speed. We performed well on the medium tires, but managing the hard tires was more challenging, especially in the final 10 to 15 laps. I lost grip completely.
I was struggling a lot with sliding. I noticed Lando catching up, so in the last 10 laps, I pushed to the limit, even though it was tough with the tires not performing well. I had to be careful not to make too many mistakes. Fortunately, we managed to avoid that.
McLaren’s recent upgrades proved to be instrumental in Norris’ victory over Verstappen in Miami a fortnight ago, and now he came close to surpassing the Dutchman at Imola. Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, also benefited from the enhanced car and secured a commendable fourth place, just behind Ferrari’s favored driver, Charles Leclerc.
When asked by Mirror Sport if his recent performances give him hope of regularly challenging Verstappen, Norris responded, “There’s no reason to deny it after a couple of tracks. I don’t believe we’re on their level just yet – as we witnessed today, they still excel in certain areas. However, there were instances where we showcased improvement, which is definitely a positive sign.”
“There are tracks where we can be stronger… I’m excited that we can definitely continue to fight them in more races.” Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were sixth and seventh and the seven-time F1 champion admitted Mercedes are in “no-man’s land”.
Leave a Reply