How Norris’ patient start to his final stint helped him chase Verstappen

2024 Emilia-Romagna GP interactive data

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By the time Red Bull had an inkling how much pressure Max Verstappen was going to be under at the end of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, it was too late to do anything about it.

Lando Norris cut Verstappen’s lead from a peak of seven-and-a-half seconds to just seven-tenths of a second as they took the chequered flag.

The McLaren driver was consistently quicker than Verstappen at the end of the race on the hard tyre compound. His cautious start to that stint appeared to be part of the reason why.

Red Bull might have expected Verstappen to face a tricky end to the race as his team mate Sergio Perez started on the hard rubber and his lap times dropped off 23 laps into his 37-lap stint.

After the race Perez suspected he damaged his car when he went off the track at the Rivazzas. However his lap times largely recovered after that mistake on lap 17, which cost him five seconds. It wasn’t until later that his pace dropped.

Verstappen’s lap times didn’t deteriorate as sharply as his team mate’s, but from around 20 laps into his stint they rose slightly, and he had little answer as Norris began to press.

Norris played his tyres in more gently at the start of his stint compared to his team mate Oscar Piastri, and that appeared to pay off later on. Having given away half a second per lap at times at the start of the stint, Norris gained almost a second a lap compared to Piastri in the latter laps as Verstappen’s car grew bigger ahead of him. Norris’ reduced pace even allowed Charles Leclerc to briefly gain on him.

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As the race entered its final half-dozen laps, both Verstappen and Norris’ lap times were rising as they exhausted their batteries, wrung the last from their tyres and began making occasional errors. Norris’ difficulties were amplified by the aerodynamic wake from Verstappen’s car ahead, and on laps 58 and 59 his progress stalled.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Imola, 2024
Norris had strong pace at the end of the race
Had it not been for that, Norris might have arrived within DRS range of Verstappen earlier than he ultimately did, on the race’s final lap, by which time it was too late.

In F1’s first fully-dry race at Imola since 2020, one-stop strategies were as usual the preferred route. Among the points-scorers only George Russell came in twice, and his second visit was for fresh tyres in order to bag the fastest lap bonus point. Unusually, he sacrificed a place in order to do so, though it was collected by his team mate, so the move was a net gain for Mercedes.

Perez was the only driver to run the ‘opposite’ one-stop strategy of starting on hards and switching to mediums. Even without his mistake it’s doubtful he would have finished any higher, as he was too far behind the Mercedes drivers to stand a chance of jumping ahead of them, though it could have thwarted Russell’s bid for fastest lap.

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix lap chart

The positions of each driver on every lap. Click name to highlight, right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix race chart

The gaps between each driver on every lap compared to the leader’s average lap time. Very large gaps omitted. Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and right-click to reset. Toggle drivers using controls below:

2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

Rank # Driver Car Lap time Gap Avg. speed (kph) Lap no.
1 63 George Russell Mercedes 1’18.589 224.87 54
2 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’19.004 0.415 223.69 62
3 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’19.686 1.097 221.78 52
4 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1’19.907 1.318 221.16 25
5 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1’19.935 1.346 221.08 27
6 4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1’19.994 1.405 220.92 54
7 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari 1’20.220 1.631 220.3 63
8 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1’20.331 1.742 219.99 43
9 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Honda RBPT 1’20.366 1.777 219.9 38
10 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 1’20.570 1.981 219.34 58
11 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB-Honda RBPT 1’20.936 2.347 218.35 14
12 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 1’21.009 2.420 218.15 58
13 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber-Ferrari 1’21.016 2.427 218.13 37
14 2 Logan Sargeant Williams-Mercedes 1’21.229 2.640 217.56 55
15 23 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1’21.274 2.685 217.44 48
16 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 1’21.304 2.715 217.36 37
17 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Renault 1’21.371 2.782 217.18 10
18 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber-Ferrari 1’21.455 2.866 216.96 11
19 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB-Honda RBPT 1’21.569 2.980 216.66 13
20 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas-Ferrari 1’21.700 3.111 216.31 3

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Rank # Driver Team Complete stop time (s) Gap to best (s) Stop no. Lap no.
1 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 29.547 1 27
2 63 George Russell Mercedes 29.605 0.058 2 52
3 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB 29.628 0.081 1 12
4 63 George Russell Mercedes 29.664 0.117 1 21
5 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 29.669 0.122 1 37
6 27 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 29.749 0.202 1 13
7 81 Oscar Piastri McLaren 29.77 0.223 1 23
8 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 29.931 0.384 3 59
9 4 Lando Norris McLaren 29.956 0.409 1 22
10 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 29.971 0.424 1 37
11 23 Alexander Albon Williams 30.05 0.503 1 8
12 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB 30.068 0.521 1 11
13 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 30.081 0.534 1 8
14 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 30.149 0.602 1 25
15 77 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 30.24 0.693 1 8
16 24 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 30.244 0.697 1 33
17 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 30.416 0.869 1 24
18 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 30.483 0.936 2 40
19 55 Carlos Sainz Jnr Ferrari 30.508 0.961 1 27
20 10 Pierre Gasly Alpine 30.654 1.107 2 30
21 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine 30.659 1.112 1 25
22 2 Logan Sargeant Williams 31.085 1.538 1 31
23 23 Alexander Albon Williams 31.131 1.584 4 28
24 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas 31.302 1.755 1 37
25 14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 31.368 1.821 1 7
26 23 Alexander Albon Williams 33.179 3.632 2 9
27 23 Alexander Albon Williams 38.413 8.866 3 23

2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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1 comments on “How Norris’ patient start to his final stint helped him chase Verstappen”

  1. According to Norria himself he started experimenting with the settings when Leclerc made his error.
    Until that moment Noris was defending against lec. When he got some breathing space he changed the settings and loaded the front more resulting in the tires “turning on”.
    As of that moment he was able to real in Verstappen.
    So it was not so much a deliberate attempt to keep his tires alive for a late attack.
    Piastri burnd his tires in the attampts to pass sainz.

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