Lando Norris confesses rivals a bit too close for comfort in the F1 Italian GP

Lando Norris admits that McLaren rivals are arguably a bit too close for comfort in the F1 Italian GP, as the McLaren driver ended the day at the top of the standings. The last couple of races have been a one-way street in general, with the Woking-based squad taking advantage of the medium- to high-downforce tracks in Hungary and Zandvoort.

McLaren tends to be a car that has no match in these sections, and it was evident in those races as well. Coming to Monza, however, the conditions are different.

The rear wing has almost no angle on it at this point, and the key differentiating factor for different cars is how efficient they are down the straights.

Rivals like Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes appear to have brought solutions that are quite competitive here, and this was evident on the timesheets, as even though Lando Norris topped the session in FP2, he was less than a tenth faster.

Ferrari driver and home favorite Charles Leclerc was in P2, within touching distance of the McLaren driver. Talking to F1.com after the day, Lando Norris admitted that even though McLaren was quick, rivals were very close. He said,

“Ish. Normally by this point we have like a one-second gap on everyone! But at the moment it looks just a bit close for my liking at the minute. Not bad, I feel like there’s some small things to improve for us to still be P1. I thought it was good that we improved some stuff from FP1 to FP2. It’s just a bit close, so I just need to try and make the gap a bit bigger so a little bit more comfortable.”

Monza opposite to Zandvoort for McLaren and other teams: Lando Norris

After driving in high downforce conditions in the past, Lando Norris admitted that this was a seismic shift for him as well. He also pointed out how the strengths that McLaren has on other tracks don't necessarily translate to Monza, hence the gap is reduced. He said,

"Still trickier than what I would like. This is the complete opposite downforce level to Zandvoort, [in] Zandvoort where we were just easily quickest and it felt pretty amazing. Here’s quite the opposite, so [it’s] not a surprise. It’s probably what we were expecting, that kind of thing, but I definitely think we don’t perform quite to the same level in these kind of low downforce conditions as we do when we’re at a high downforce."

Lando Norris has come to Monza after suffering a devastating DNF in Zandvoort. The driver is currently 34 points behind Oscar Piastri in the championship, and a strong Italian GP is going to be at the top of his agenda this weekend.