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Lando Norris was not entirely happy with how his Imola GP Sprint race went. The McLaren driver started the race in 3rd position but finished almost 25 seconds behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc for no incident or mistake of his own.
When asked if he was happy with his result from the sprint, Norris was quite open in admitting otherwise. Looking at the gap the leaders were able to pull in just 20 laps, he claimed to realize this was as good as it could get for him and his team at Imola, saying:
“I’m as happy as I can be. I was sitting behind Charles [Leclerc] and Max [Verstappen], and I ended up being 20 seconds behind in 20 laps! So it’s not the nicest thing to see but it’s the best we can do with our package and with our car, we just have to be very with these positions. So, yeah some nice points, and hopefully tomorrow we can find just a little bit more laptime to make my life a bit easier, but apart from that I’m not expecting anything much from it.”
Regardless, McLaren continued on its path of astounding progress this season as it picked up another strong haul of points. The team that was eighth fastest in the first race of the season is now firmly in the battle to challenge for the best of the rest honors on the grid. The gap to the front might seem alarming for now, but this was still a positive outcome for the team.
Lando Norris had no answer for the charging Red Bull and Ferrari of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz respectively
Arguably one of the bigger sources of frustration for Lando Norris stems from his inability to put up a strong defense against either Sergio Perez or Carlos Sainz in their Red Bulls. The two drivers stormed past the McLaren driver and Norris had no answer to their speed.
Last year, even though McLaren still had a significant gap to the front, it wasn't this big and Norris was able to defend against the charges of faster cars. This year, with cars able to follow and a strong DRS in place, McLaren feels like a sitting duck in front of a Ferrari or a Red Bull.
