Max Verstappen and Lando Norris fought for victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. But as in the sprint on Saturday, the McLaren driver had no chance in the race. According to Norris, there was “not really” a chance to put the world champion under serious pressure.
“There are small sections in which the tires come back a little and then you can push a little again,” says Norris, explaining his multiple attempts to close the gap on Verstappen. “But Max always seemed to have an answer for everything. That’s a shame.”
The McLaren driver had the best chance shortly after the restart when he launched a serious attack on Verstappen. “I tried it,” smiles Norris, who put everything on one card: “I used my fresh tires, the battery and the DRS.”
“But I couldn’t miss it until I got to the braking zone before turn four,” explains the Brit, who would have liked to take the lead in the early stages of the race. “I wanted it, but a few meters were missing.”
Red Bull has an advantage when it comes to tire management
Verstappen used the additional power to defend himself against the McLaren driver’s attack. He then gradually increased his lead, although he didn’t want to put too much strain on the tires. “The whole race was about handling the tires,” confirms the Red Bull driver. “I think we were good with every tire.”
However, Norris was able to keep up with the world champion’s pace, especially with fresh tires. “We saw that yesterday in the sprint that we are not far away for the first ten to 15 laps,” says the McLaren driver happily. But the older the tires got, the greater the gap to the top became.
“Lando drove comparable lap times,” says Verstappen. “That’s why I had to focus at the beginning of each stint.” Nevertheless, Red Bull’s tire wear was lower, which proved to be the key to victory. The world champion was able to pull away, especially in the middle stint, so that in the end he just had to manage his lead.
The high tire wear and the changing wind direction meant that the drivers had to constantly correct their cars. “So you always have to be focused,” warns the Dutchman, who was never able to rest on his solid lead and always had to keep an eye on Norris.
Norris with a “surprisingly” good start
“You have to give him credit for driving a good race, which was very difficult with the wind conditions and everything else,” the McLaren driver admits. He is therefore satisfied with his own race: “To be honest, it couldn’t have gone much better.”
Unlike the sprint on Saturday, Noris had a good start, which he described as a “nice surprise”: “I had a good pace, similar to yesterday, and a much better start, which meant I went from sixth to second place.”
At the second start after the race was interrupted, Norris said he was “a little too aggressive”, which meant that he was able to put Verstappen under pressure for a short time, but was then no longer able to keep up with the Red Bull driver’s pace.
Norris takes the fastest lap of the race
“I tried to take advantage of the first chance, but it didn’t work,” said Norris, who was pleased to have left the rest of the field so clearly behind, even if it made the race “very boring” at times.
McLaren delayed the last stop for a while in order to give Norris a small advantage at the end thanks to the fresher tires. The Briton still managed to secure the fastest lap of the race, but he was unable to pose a threat to Verstappen again.
“I’m very happy with second place,” says Norris, who is only three points behind Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) in fifth place in the overall standings. “This is the best that is possible at the moment.”