Lando Norris arrives at Imola chasing his first win since the opening round of the season in Australia. He finished second in Miami last time out behind teammate Oscar Piastri.
McLaren produced the most dominant performance of the year in Florida, with second-place Norris more than 30 seconds clear of George Russell. While this was only their second one-two of the year, the Woking outfit have now won five out of six races.
In qualifying, they’re tied with Red Bull on three poles apiece. But that may reflect the brilliance of Max Verstappen rather than parity in performance – his teammates have been nowhere close.
Even Verstappen, though, is struggling to keep the papaya cars behind in the races. He deployed his typically aggressive defensive tactics in Miami, but it was ultimately a losing battle.
| Position | Constructors’ Standings | Points |
| 1 |
McLaren Racing |
246 |
| 2 |
Mercedes-AMG Petronas |
141 |
| 3 |
Red Bull Racing |
105 |
| 4 |
Scuderia Ferrari |
94 |
| 5 |
Williams F1 Team |
37 |
| 6 |
Haas F1 Team |
20 |
| 7 |
Aston Martin F1 Team |
14 |
| 8 |
Racing Bulls |
8 |
| 9 |
Alpine F1 Team |
7 |
| 10 |
Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber |
6 |
In Saudi Arabia, he received a time penalty for cutting turn one in his battle with Piastri, who took control of the race. The Australian also won by 16 seconds in Bahrain despite a safety car, and 10 seconds in China.
F1 fans tear into Lando Norris for playing the underdog before Imola
Speaking to the sport’s official website before the Imola weekend, Norris downplayed McLaren’s chances of repeating Miami. The team were surprised by their advantage.
The British driver envisages a ‘tight’ and ‘tough’ weekend in Italy.
“I think Miami just went very, very well,” Norris said. “I think our pace was probably a little bit of a surprise, just how strong we were on Sunday, but a nice surprise.
“I expect it to probably return a little bit more back to how it’s been, which is us having a small advantage but still being tight with our main competition. We’re still expecting a tough weekend, it’s just a good surprise if things go better than that.”
When these comments were shared on Reddit, F1 fans reacted angrily. The consensus was that Norris was deliberately underselling McLaren’s dominance.
“I swear Lando would play the underdog even if he was leading 200 points going into [the season finale in] Abu Dhabi,” one wrote.
“Lando just won’t stop pretending like they don’t have a dominant car,” another said.
“Why keep “acting” like your car is not the fastest car by FAR?” Norris was asked.
A fellow user observed: “Lando’s sanity hinges on him not being perceived as driving the fastest car.”
Norris’ claim was also dubbed ‘ridiculous’, and he was called ‘too afraid to fail’. His so-called ‘sandbagging’ is ‘highly annoying’ for sections of the sport’s fanbase.
Lando Norris has done something that wasn’t allowed at McLaren during Lewis Hamilton era
Guenther Steiner says Norris and Piastri need to improve in qualifying to reach Verstappen’s level. The former hasn’t been on pole since Melbourne.
Norris had the beating of Piastri on a Saturday last year (21-3 in the head-to-head), but he’s lost his touch over a single lap so far. It may speak to his underlying discomfort with the MCL39, for all its strengths.
An error in Bahrain left him sixth on the grid, and he then crashed during Q3 in Saudi Arabia. A front-row start in Miami, two spots ahead of Piastri, was a creditable response.
Norris has changed his lifestyle this year, aware that this is his biggest chance yet to win a championship. But former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley says this never would have been allowed under Ron Dennis, who always wanted his employees to maintain the habits that had made them successful.
