Lando Norris says that Max Verstappen is still a threat for victory in the Belgian GP despite starting only 11th after taking a PU grid penalty.
He added that Verstappen’s qualifying pace indicated that McLaren still has work to do despite the Woking team’s recent strong form.
Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri are starting fourth and fifth after the wet qualifying session, but they are expected to be competitive relative to the cars ahead – those of Charles Leclerc, Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton – in what will be a dry race on Sunday.
However Norris concedes that Verstappen is likely to come through the field and provide the biggest challenge to the Woking team.
“Definitely a threat,” said Norris when asked about Verstappen’s chances of winning. “I think he’s clearly been quickest all weekend, even yesterday in FP2, they just didn’t turn up the engine, and we had. So considering we were only two-tenths ahead, they had a lot more in their bag, basically.
“So yes, in a way, a good thing, it shows that we still have a lot more work to do, even after a lot of great races the past few weeks, I think Red Bull have always been there thereabouts.
“People want to try and count them out at times, but Max was easily on par with us in quali last weekend, and pretty much the same race pace, just made more mistakes than what we did, simple as that, but just as quick.
“At the minute, they look very strong. He has been since the first lap in FP1, he was quite easily the strongest, so going to be a threat tomorrow.
“But that’s low fuel, and hopefully high fuel is a little bit more even, but 100% he’s going to be coming through quickly, and I’m sure he’ll be a threat for us at some point.”
Norris said he wasn’t worried about Sergio Perez potentially holding the McLarens up and allowing Verstappen to close.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a concern, honestly,” he said. “For our race against Max, we have to get past all of them. I know Checo potentially will have bit more defensive mindset than the others, but Charles is still fighting off pole and for a win, so he’s going to be fighting hard for it.
“He’s not just going to let things go easily. Same with Hamilton. He’s always going to be aggressive and defensive what he needs to be.
“So I wouldn’t say Perez is any more of a threat from that side, but he’s in the quickest car, so in terms of getting past that, kind of making the tyres last better than him, and that kind of thing is going to be harder than some of the others.
“I think when you look at the pace from Friday, it gives us decent amount of confidence that if we can just keep our heads down and focus on ourselves we can hopefully get through them at some point in the race. And try and keep Max behind.”
Piastri suggested that a big delta between old and new tyres means that it won’t be hard to overtake.
“I pitted at one point in practice, and I was three seconds a lap faster than the car ahead of me,” said the Australian.
“So if you manage to defend and the car behind is three seconds quicker than you, then that’s pretty impressive!
“So I think it will kind of work itself out naturally, let’s say, depending on how the race goes. But obviously we’re in a fight with Red Bull in the constructors’, and Max is leading the world championship in the driver’s standing.
“So of course, I’m expecting Checo to put up a fight. I think even for his own sake, it’s not been the easiest run for him.
“And I think, of course, more than anyone, he probably wants a really good result for himself. So I think he’ll fight hard for it, but I don’t think any harder than he would if was another situation.”
Piastri says that Red Bull has been more competitive in recent races that many people might think.
“I think we definitely do still have some different characteristics,” he said. “I think in my opinion, Budapest is really the only weekend for us where you can clearly say we were the quickest.
“And even in saying that, I think had Max got through the traffic a bit quicker in the race, he would have posed a serious threat at the end. So I think they were still, very competitive, and qualifying obviously it was very close.”
Piastri says that “little things” have helped to determine the pecking order: “I think just some days we’ve made mistakes. Some days Red Bull have made mistakes.
“Last weekend, I think our car probably favoured that track a little bit more. This weekend it probably favours Red Bull a little bit more. So all these little things put together is what’s making the difference at the moment.
“And I think we just need to try and make sure we maximise the ones that are in our control, really. But I don’t think we’ve necessarily had the edge over them for the last five or six races.
“I think it’s fair to say we’ve been very even, but I don’t think we’re quicker week in, week out. I think again, Budapest is really the only one where I think we did have a bit of an edge.”
Adam Cooper F1 