With consistency at the top
Formula 1 seems to have finally found someone who can try to worry Max Verstappen and Red Bull, race after race. Maybe not for the title, given that the Dutchman’s margin of advantage still seems reassuring, but for the individual stage successes, yes. The mainstream narrative would perhaps have wanted a remake of the epic challenge of 2021 with Lewis Hamilton, or the definitive duel with his peer Charles Leclerc, experienced only in flashes at the beginning of 2022. None of this: the alternative to orange supremacy is always orange – but papaya – and his name is Lando Norris.
The young British talent, at the wheel of a McLaren that has returned to its glories, now seems to be the only one capable of permanently troubling Hasselt’s #1: winning in Miami, second in Imola and in Canada – right behind Max – and now back in front in Spain, even if ‘only’ in qualifying. Should this continue today in the race, the direct comparison between the two would also be ‘certified’ by the championship standings, given that Norris would rise to second position.
International applause
The media also confirmed Norris’ role; not only the British ones, notoriously very inclined to celebrate their favorites, but also the international ones. In the Spanish newspaper AS they have no doubts and the headline in the motoring section, in large letters, is “Norris es el anti-Verstappen”. “The young Lando confirms himself as the antidote to another season of Dutch dictatorship. Others come close, sometimes they win. But only Norris replies regularly,” we read in Jesús Balseiro’s article.
Even the Italian general newspapers have underlined how only Norris is permanently alongside, and often in front of, the spearhead of the Red Bull team: “Norris speeds through Barcelona – highlights Alessandra Retico in La Repubblica – he is the unexpected rival of Verstappen”. Jacopo d’Orsi, in La Stampa, instead focuses attention on the difficulties of Ferrari, relegated to the third row. Leclerc’s Monegasque flash was perhaps just an illusion: Lando had his turn signal in place some time ago.
#Leclerc #Hamilton #alternative #Verstappen #Lando
