Lando Norris says anyone considering excluding Max Verstappen and Red Bull was “a bit foolish” after the pair maintained a 100 per cent pole position record at Imola. thinking.
It looked like Verstappen was going to win the last Miami Grand Prix, which would have been the championship leader’s fifth win of the season, but Norris benefited from the safety car and the timing of the safety car to pull off a big surprise. was completed. He pulled away from Verstappen on the restart and became the winner of an F1 race for the first time.
Lando Norris says doubting Max Verstappen is ‘a bit stupid’
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
With Norris achieving results in a significantly upgraded McLaren, attention shifted to Imola. Red Bull will take on the F1 development war for the first time in 2024 with the improved RB20. Initially, the signs were not good for Red Bull, with Verstappen failing to break into the top three with “terrible” (in his own words) short and long run performances throughout practice.
However, Verstappen’s fortunes took a complete U-turn heading into qualifying, and despite McLaren being wary of Verstappen, Verstappen led all three sessions and took pole, ahead of Oscar Piastri and Norris. Both were within one-tenth of Paul’s lap.
And while Norris believes a “good race” could be on the horizon for McLaren at Imola, he candidly says anyone who expected Verstappen to slump and be out is “a bit stupid”. Told.
Norris will move to the front row for Sunday’s Grand Prix after Piastri received a three-place grid penalty for interference from Kevin Magnussen in Q1.
Asked by PlanetF1.com and other media outlets how confident he was that he could repeat in Miami, given concerns about Verstappen’s race pace, Norris replied: That is, it is almost impossible to overtake here, especially if the gap is very small.
“But, yeah, you always try to take advantage of other people’s mistakes and struggles. As bad as it sounds, you try to take advantage of their time.
“I don’t know, Max didn’t have the smoothest weekend, but I think it’s a little bit foolish of anyone to doubt Red Bull or that he’ll come back and do a good job in qualifying.
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“Yeah, I think we were hoping they would get back on track and it’s disappointing to miss him again in qualifying, but we’re so close and the whole team’s performance has been great. I think we’re happy as a team.”So if we can continue to have a strong race pace tomorrow like we did yesterday and in Miami, I think everyone can expect a good race. ”
Verstappen will be aiming for his third consecutive win at Imola on Sunday.
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