McLaren driver Lando Norris believes passing Max Verstappen on a straight will probably be “robust” within the British Grand Prix, after Purple Bull switched to a low-downforce rear wing forward of qualifying.
4-time Components 1 champion Verstappen shocked the opposition by taking pole place at Silverstone on Saturday, edging out McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Norris to the highest spot by simply over a tenth of a second.
Purple Bull had struggled at the beginning of the weekend in observe, however an in a single day change targeted on enhancing the RB21’s efficiency in a straight line boosted the crew’s fortunes and allowed Verstappen to say his fourth pole place of the season.
The advantage of the brand new rear wing is anticipated to be extra pronounced in race situations, significantly if climate stays dry.
Norris expects it is going to be tough to catch and go Verstappen on the straights however stays hopeful McLaren can discover different alternatives to problem for what could be the crew’s ninth win of the yr.
“It is laborious, actually, to know till you get behind and you’ve got the soiled air and DRS and issues like that,” he defined within the post-race press convention.
“To be trustworthy, on the minute, our DRS velocity most likely nearly matches Max’s velocity. So, I believe it’s going to be robust as a result of we’ll most likely catch him within the excessive velocity, however we simply will not actually shut a lot after we open the DRS. I believe it may be robust, however there’s additionally most likely extra alternatives than a traditional race.
“Between everybody, we’re quick and sluggish elsewhere. You have a look at Purple Bull Ring and also you say Purple Bull Ring is high-speed, however evaluating to Silverstone, it is fairly medium-speed.
“Right here is certainly high-speed, and it is most likely highlighted a couple of extra of our weaknesses. We have carried out very nicely within the slower and medium-speed tracks, among the greater velocity, we’re not unhealthy, however we all the time appear to lose out to Max and the Purple Bull, like Oscar mentioned, in Japan, right here, issues like that.
“So, clearly issues to work on. However we go into the race tomorrow, there’s nonetheless loads of alternative for us.”
Norris’ teammate Piastri was shocked to see the RB21 carry out nicely even in high-speed corners regardless of the way in which Purple Bull had configured the automotive.
As such, he believes there is no such thing as a clear favorite between Purple Bull and McLaren heading into Sunday’s race.
“It is laborious to know in the meanwhile,” he mentioned. “For us, what’s been spectacular is among the high-speed efficiency that they will proceed with, even with the sunshine downforce. So, let’s wait and see tomorrow. In fact, I hope that the upper downforce works a bit higher in a couple of areas, however actually, we actually will not know till tomorrow.
“It is also been attention-grabbing with different groups, it is not all the time simply been the upper the downforce you’ve got the faster you might be in all of the corners. [In] among the corners we’re nonetheless slower than the Purple Bull and Max. So, it is not that easy, however I believe it should be an attention-grabbing factor to see tomorrow.”
