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Lando Norris believes he could have gone even quicker on his Italian Grand Prix pole lap, worrying his Championship rivals.
Red Bull’s era of dominance is over, with McLaren seemingly in prime position to take on the mantle as the team to beat for the remainder of the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship.
The Woking-based outfit were not looking particularly quick throughout the three practice sessions on Friday and Saturday, with Verstappen and Hamilton topping the timing screens in those hour-long run plans.
However, the Papaya-coloured cars turned up the wick in Qualifying, as Norris led teammate Oscar Piastri to a McLaren one-two. The 24-year-old driver secured a second pole position in a row after his impressive weekend at Zandvoort, setting a time 0.109 seconds quicker than Piastri.
Next up were the Mercedes and Ferraris, while Red Bull could only muster P7 and P8 with Verstappen and Sergio Perez respectively. Something is going wrong at the team based in Milton Keynes, and they could very well see their leads in the Constructors’ and Drivers’ Championships disappear before the end of the current season.
Even more disconcerting for his competitors, Norris admitted after the end of Qualifying that he had significantly more to give after his dominant display around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.
There are some unknowns
Norris immediately reported back to his race engineer after crossing the finish line to claim pole, apologising for not extracting the maximum out of his MCL38 on his final flying lap.
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 following the session, Norris said: “Another pole is amazing. To have first and second when the field has been so tight is surprising.
“It hurts me to say it but my lap wasn’t great but I am very, very happy.”
With plenty of overtaking opportunities around the racetrack, Norris is expecting to have to fight to maintain the lead of the race for its entire 53-lap duration He continued: “I am not expecting an easy race.
“There are some unknown things with the tyres and degradation, but I am looking forward to it,” concluded the McLaren driver.
The Italian Grand Prix commences Sunday 1 September at 14:00 BST (15:00 local time). Can Norris close the gap to Championship leader Verstappen yet again in the Drivers’ Standings?
Feature Image Credit: @F1 on X
