Lando Norris is convinced he could have beaten Max Verstappen to win the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix if he’d had one or two more laps.
The McLaren driver closed on Verstappen over the final laps of the race but crossed the finishing line just seven-tenths of a second behind the winner.Norris only closed within DRS range of the leader on the final lap, and is convinced he could have attacked Verstappen for victory had the race gone on longer.
“It hurts me to say, but one or two more laps and I think I would have had him,” said Norris. “It’s tough, a shame.”
He said he lost too much time early in the race when Verstappen built up a lead over more than six seconds.
“I fought hard, right until the very last lap but just lost out a little it too much to Max in the beginning,” he said. “He was much better in the first stint and obviously in the second stint we were stronger.
“It just was a tough first half and a much better second half and one or two more laps would have been beautiful, but just not today.”
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Verstappen said he wasn’t able to relax at any point in the race despite his early lead. “The whole race I had to push flat-out to try and make a gap initially,” he said. “I think on the medium tyres we were quite strong. On the hard tyres it was just a bit more difficult to manage.
“Especially the last 10, 15 laps, I had no grip any more. I was really sliding a lot.”
The Red Bull driver had the added concern that he had picked up three strikes for exceeding track limits and a fourth would mean an automatic time penalty.
“I saw Lando closing in, the last 10 laps was just flat-out but it is very difficult when the tyres are not working any more and you have to go flat-out,” he said. “I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes.”
“Luckily we didn’t and I’m super-happy, of course, to win here today.”
Norris, who scored his first Formula 1 victory in Miami two weeks ago, admitted he still finds it strange to feel disappointed not to win races.
“I think we’re at a point now where we can happily say we’re in the position of Ferrari and Red Bull,” he said. “So that’s what we have to get used to.
“But the team are doing a good job. I think we’re all doing a very good job. So it’s business as usual, it’s focusing on doing the same things, it’s just we’re fighting for first or second now.
“So it’s still a surprise to say it’s frustrating not to win but after last weekend and the improvements we made it’s what we should start to expect.”
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2024 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix
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Jere (@jerejj)
19th May 2024, 16:11
Or if he’d gotten within DRS race a lap or two sooner.
People always only reference lap amounts beyond scheduled race distance rather than the same things happening sooner, even though this scenario equally works for what-if games.
Edvaldo
19th May 2024, 16:11
In 20 more laps, when Max’s tyres would be down to the wire, maybe.
With similar tyres, Red Bull being a fast car on the straights and Mclaren one of the slowest, on a track like this with just one short DRS-sector, it would never be easy with similar tyres.
Rom
19th May 2024, 16:15
Could’ve been given another 20 laps on the same set and still wouldn’t have gotten past. Too difficult to overtake in Imola and Norris would’ve shot his tyres in the dirty air like Piastri did behind Leclerc and him behind Norris.
F1statsfan (@f1statsfan)
19th May 2024, 16:44
Lando will have a different view after talking to Piastri and some other drivers – being 0.7 second behind at start/finish wouldn’t be enough to overtake even with DRS.
Or ask Lewis who had to wait an extra lap to overtake Perez despite much newer tires because Perez finally put a defensive move. For sure Max would have made it equally if not more difficult for Lando and fairly sure Max could have survived another 3 laps for sure.
Think Edvaldo’s 20 laps is far too optimistic.
Neil (@neilosjames)
19th May 2024, 16:50
One or two grand prix distances, maybe.
mars
19th May 2024, 17:31
Nobody wants to talk about it much, but Noris lost the race yesterday, not today. If he had managed to be 0.1 sec faster than his inexperienced (rookie on this track) teammate yesterday, he could have won the race today.
He had no chance of winning the race today. Even if he had caught Max earlier, I think he would have spent a few laps behind him and fallen back, just like the others.
Tristan
19th May 2024, 17:42
What are you on about? Your armchair expert opinion is laughable considering you can’t even pay attention to the starting grid.
mars
19th May 2024, 19:30
I think you really don’t understand what I wrote. I know the starting grid very well as Norris started 2nd thanks to Piastri lost front-row start after a penalty. This doesn’t change the reality, as his inexperienced teammate (Piastri) out qualified Norris on a track which he drove first time. If Norris had managed to put a 0.1sec faster lap time than his inexperienced teammate yesterday during the q3, than he would have been on pole position and possibly have more chance to win race.
Q3 Lap Times
Max 1’14.746
Oscar 1’14.820 – 0.1 = pole position
Lando 1’14.837
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th May 2024, 2:43
Yes, it was pretty obvious what you meant, I’m surprised, I agree he’d have had a decent chance to win had he started on pole, you still have to see the start and keep in mind verstappen had pace in hand early on.
Edvaldo
19th May 2024, 17:52
He was faster than Max on hard tyres, but definitely not on mediums, that’s where Max build that close to 7 seconds gap.
I can easily imagine Max making a pass on him early on if needed to, but not the opposite.
Obviously won’t consider their team mates as reference for how competitive their cars were. Piastri still lacks race pace and Perez shouldn’t even be driving that car after last season.
mars
19th May 2024, 20:18
“I can easily imagine Max making a pass on him early on if needed to, but not the opposite.”
This is a possibility considering the top speed advantage of RBR, but I disagree because even Piastri, who was much faster than Carlos, could not pass him. Especially this year Imola seems to be a track where passing is really difficult if one does not have a huge advantage (like new vs old tyres).
Mooa42
20th May 2024, 4:05
If Oscar hadn’t got the penalty, having 2 McLaren’s attacking Max could have changed the tactics and approach significantly.
@ Edvaldo RE Piastri lacking race pace, I think he seems to be really good at the start and restarts which leads me to think he doesn’t bring his tyres in slow enough and ends up paying for it later in the stint. He got a great start and was hounding Sainz for many laps before dropping back, and after his pit stop he set fastest lap by a large amount at that stage of the race, to ensure he jumped Sainz, but then dropped back later in the race with tyres and also navigating lapped traffic.
Tristan
19th May 2024, 17:36
It’s all important points. And even more importantly McLaren have the upward trend.
I think anyone coming away from this race thinking Red Bull are still dominant are just not paying attention.
Max is still the driver to beat, but a completely different landscape to the start of the season.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
20th May 2024, 2:46
It depends on the tyres, if you watch just the early part of the race it looks dominant, building a 6-7 gap in so few laps, while on the harder tyres mclaren seems better now.
Verstappen had to work hard all weekend for this win, however I wouldn’t underestimate his pace on mediums, a car that builds that gap has the potential to be dominant.
S
20th May 2024, 10:40
They’ve still got 5 out of 7 wins so far this season. That’s not as dominant as before (pace-wise) perhaps, but they are still qualifying and racing faster most of the time. They aren’t really fighting for it on-track…
There are still plenty of GP’s left this season that will allow Red Bull to exploit their car’s advantages – even if they have to continue to sacrifice Perez to do it.
Of course, they could also just be playing games. They wouldn’t be the first team in F1 to turn things down a bit to take the regulatory heat off themselves, would they….
Mayrton
21st May 2024, 6:50
While I like his optimism, it is not very realistic given catching and overtaking are two different things. But his ambition is good. Now he firstly needs to become more consistent to become a multiple race winner.