The afternoon illusion
The 2nd time obtained by Lando Norris at the end of PL2 of the Italian Grand Prix somehow confirmed the good form of the British rider and the McLaren, returning from convincing performances after the turning point in Austria with the new updates. However, the performance of the #4 in the Monza afternoon should be evaluated almost exclusively on paper, given the difficulties experienced by the Woking team during the rest of the day, as demonstrated by the 7th place by Oscar Piastri’s teammate at the end of the morning.
‘Saved’ by soft
This was confirmed by Norris himself a Sky Sports F1who specified which were the toughest obstacles faced this Friday and, at the same time, the ‘secret’ of recovery in the final round: “I would say it was a good performance based on this track – he has declared – but honestlyand we were pretty slow all day until the last run. Probably the cooler temperatures at the end of the day, with the new tires on the flying lap, allowed us to be more competitive as always in these conditions. With the other tyres, on the other hand, we struggled a little more, especially with the used ones and with the medium ones. Compared to Ferrari we were 6 to 8 tenths slower, then with the new softs we had that extra grip which helped our balance a lot, but we also made good progress between PL1 and PL2. We used the lower downforce wing and changed other things that allowed us to improve, but there are other things we will have to work on“.
distant podium
A Friday therefore not entirely satisfactory for the Briton, who also admitted that he did not expect entirely positive results from Sunday’s race, contrary to what could be the results on the flying lap in qualifying: “We are unlikely to be candidates for the podium because we don’t have the race pacewhile that of qualification is there – He admitted – We have lacked the race pace a lot also in the last few weekends, not so much for a particular reason, because we haven’t changed anything, but we have always struggled. In other races we did very well, and now we’re coming up hotter tracks and with different conditions, and we were back to struggling as in the past. This is the confirmation that there is a need to improve the car, which is good but not good enough, so we will have to keep working”.
Piastri’s words
“At the end of Friday I have to say we had a good day“, added the teammate Plates. “I think there are still some things we can work on and improve, but the pace on the qualifying flying lap seems to be quite good. Let’s see how we go, there are some things to analyze but it certainly wasn’t a bad first day“.
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