Lando Norris has warned it received’t be straightforward to overhaul Max Verstappen for the victory on the Italian Grand Prix, labelling it a “huge problem”.
Norris is about to begin Sunday’s race at Monza from second on the grid after being pipped by Verstappen to pole.
It wasn’t a completely simple qualifying session for the McLaren driver.
He wanted a late effort to soundly make it into Q2, counting on the slipstream of teammate and championship rival, Oscar Piastri.
Equally, in Q3, Norris was down in seventh after the primary runs, as he accomplished his first lap with no tow.
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Norris briefly took provisional pole however was crushed by Verstappen, who smashed Lewis Hamilton’s 2020 monitor document within the Mercedes W11.
Talking after qualifying, like teammate Piastri, Norris wasn’t stunned to see Verstappen on pole.
“No, no, no. Max has been faster this weekend, and it’s by no means a shock with Max,” Norris mentioned at Monza.
“It was fairly a session for me, simply up and down and too many errors right here and there, however to drag all of it collectively on the final lap was… I used to be fairly completely satisfied. I’m proud of P2.
“I at all times give my consequence relying on how I drove at the moment. So I really feel like I didn’t do the very best of jobs, however to finish up P2, I used to be so proud of. So let’s say good issues and unhealthy issues.
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“P2 continues to be not a nasty place to be off the road. And I imply, I need to be forward of everybody, that features my championship contenders and Oscar. It’s a superb place for tomorrow, and I’m excited for the race.”
Norris labels race “huge problem”
With Crimson Bull’s straight-line pace benefit and Verstappen’s spectacular race run in FP2, Lando Norris predicts it is going to be tough to beat him.
“Our race on Sunday is generally our energy,” Norris defined. “However to get previous Max, I’m positive it’s going to be a giant problem, however we’ll see. Their tempo was additionally very robust. In case you see the tip of the stint, they’re doing the identical lap instances as us. So, I don’t count on any magical issues, and now we have some Ferraris behind.
“I’m positive we’re going to need to come by means of as rapidly as potential. So it’s an extended race. Many issues can occur, and we’ll see what we will do.”
