Lando Norris admits he missed an opportunity to win the Italian Grand Prix last year and is seeking to make amends today.
The McLaren driver started from pole position last year but was passed by team mate Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on the first lap. Norris, who went off at the Roggia chicane while under pressure from Leclerc at one stage, finished third. Leclerc won the race thanks largely to his strategy, making a single pit stop while the McLaren drivers came in twice.
Max Verstappen beat Norris to pole position by less than a tenth of a second yesterday. The pole-winner hasn’t won the Italian Grand Prix for the last five years but Norris said that doesn’t give him any extra confidence Verstappen can be beaten.
“It [pole] can easily win, so I don’t really care about those stats,” he told Viaplay after qualifying. “I should have won last year, I did stupid stuff and I didn’t.
“So I don’t care about that, Max will try and do everything he can to win. I’m going to have a big challenge tomorrow, so we’ll see what we can do.”
However he expects McLaren will be slightly more competitive over a longer stint in the race than Red Bull.
“It’s a long race,” he said, “you can still race here, it’s not easy – even though it looks like it should be easy, it is never easy.
“The pace of the Red Bull has been quick all weekend. They were very quick in the high fuel, just as quick as us.
“So I don’t expect us to be heroes tomorrow. I still expect us to have a small advantage, because we normally do, and I’ll try to use that.”
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