One step away from the business
Final with high sporting tension in the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, with the leadership of Max Verstappen challenged lap after lap by the great recovery of Lando Norris, came close to what would have been his second consecutive victory after Miami. Instead, the feat failed not only due to the management of the applause-worthy car by the reigning world champion, in difficulty with the tires and one step away from a possible sanction due to track limits, but also due to the comeback attempt started in a few laps from the checkered flag.
63 + 2
A chance that did not bring the desired effects to #4, but if the race had lasted just over the expected 63 laps, another success would have been celebrated at McLaren. A belief also shared by the CEO of the Woking company, Zak Brown: “I think Lando would have won with two more laps – declared the American a Sky Sports F1 – Max was pushing a lot and was really at the limit even with the track limits, he was using the battery a lot and he’s a champion, but I would have liked to have had those 2 more laps. There would have been a good chance for us, but it was still a good result.”
My fault
A sense of bitterness admitted not only for Norris’s 2nd place, but also for 4th Oscar Piastriauthor of the 2nd time in qualifying but subsequently penalized by three positions for impeding: “Oscar was fantastic all weekend, as well as in Miami – he continued – we were the ones who created a problem for him in qualifying with that penaltybut these things happen. It was the team’s faultwe had to help him more to avoid him ending up in the slipstream of another rider, but these are things that happen in a team. If he had started in front I think we would have had two cars on the podium“.
The best duo
Regrets which, however, are added to more than positive considerations from Brown not only on McLaren’s chances of winning in the next rounds, but also on the quality of its drivers: “You have to work day after day in F1 to make sure things evolve quickly, but clearly we have a car and two drivers capable of winning races – he concluded – the goal of victory now seems more achievableso we will give everything every weekend with the hopes and expectations of getting on the podium regularly. Our drivers are the best couple around, I wouldn’t want two more different drivers. Oscar is still at the beginning of his career and is working on race and tire management, while Lando is 5 seasons ahead of him in this aspect. Both are extremely fast, and the duo is truly perfect“.
#Brown #confident #laps #Norris #won