Lando Norris sends Red Bull warning with McLaren “better suited to Imola” prediction

Lando Norris believes McLaren could be even more competitive at Imola this weekend than they were in Miami.

Norris clinched his maiden F1 victory last time out in Miami, ending his long wait to stand on the top step of the podium.

While Norris took the lead through fortuitous circumstances thanks to the Safety Car, he managed to pull away from Max Verstappen with relative ease.

Looking ahead to this weekend at Imola, Norris expects McLaren to be “better suited to Imola”.

“I think we are just better suited to Imola, potentially the upgrade is a little bit as well,” he said. “Imola has generally been one of our most successful tracks as a team and for me as a driver so I would like to say so I think we definitely took a step forward.

“From what I know, other teams have upgrades too so I don’t think we’re getting ahead of ourselves. I’ve put good confidence forward to the team, I’ve said that we’re confident we can take steps forward, but I think I made it clear that we’re not going to be there every weekend.”

Reflecting on his victory, Norris conceded he was “lucky” and McLaren “need more” to challenge Ferrari and Red Bull consistently.

“I was lucky last weekend with the safety car and the strategy worked out perfectly but that’s how racing goes sometimes,” he added. “I wasn’t just first because I was the quickest at the time but I was quickest on track and I think that was the first good sign we had and then it turned into something more.

“But we need more if we want to challenge Ferrari more consistently, we want to challenge Red Bull more consistently but the team are doing a great job. They made some good steps and we have more things hopefully coming in the future.”

McLaren still third fastest

McLaren currently sit a comfortable third in the F1 constructors’ championship on 124 points, 60 points ahead of Mercedes.

Even though McLaren out-paced Ferrari in the last two races, he’s adamant they are too far behind still.

“At the minute, I think we’re still too far behind,” he explained . “It was just one weekend and to come here. Miami we definitely weren’t expecting to be as good as we were and that was a nice surprise. China was similar things.

“But we’re not a mile away, we’re talking one or two tenths a lap at this point between being ahead and qualifying and being able to stay ahead in the race versus being behind and just not having what it takes.

“So I don’t think at the minute we have the package from the beginning of every weekend to the end of every weekend, I think we have more work to do. I don’t think we’re on par with Ferrari and with what Red Bull have.

“But we’re getting closer so I think we needed a couple more of the steps that we had in Miami and then I think yes, we can start to talk a little bit more about that kind of thing.”