For Lando Norris, his seventh place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix feels like a defeat. Despite the Brit claiming to ‘give everything’ in the title fight with colleague Oscar Piastri, every race outside the top 2 feels ‘like a missed opportunity’. And then there’s the threat named Max Verstappen. “He’s going to make our lives difficult.”
“I always do the best possible,” Norris explains after the race in Baku, where he only gained six points on the retired Piastri. “Every time I finish second or lower this year, it’s a missed opportunity. I don’t really care how people look at it. I have to,” he admits, “make up a lot of points on a very good driver. So I must not lose heart.”
According to Norris, the lack of pace from McLaren’s MCL39 was one of the main reasons for the disappointing weekend on the shores of the Caspian Sea. “We were not very optimistic about our speed today, we were struggling. I don’t think the speed was bad, but it’s just too difficult to overtake here. I’m doing everything I can, but I couldn’t even keep up with Yuki (Tsunoda, ed). The Red Bulls were very fast.”
Norris realizes that Verstappen, despite a large deficit, cannot be ruled out with seven more GPs on the calendar. “They brought upgrades to Monza that apparently help. We know what a strong and experienced team Red Bull is with one of the best Formula 1 drivers ever in the car. So we expect nothing less. Max and Red Bull are going to make our lives difficult this season. I have no doubt about that.”
