Lando Norris has set his sights on taking the fight to Max Verstappen after a thrilling end to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Just two weeks after winning his first Formula One race, Norris produced a late charge to nearly catch the runaway championship leader in the dying stages of the race in Imola.
The three-time F1 world champion, who has now won five of seven grands prix this season, managed to cross the line less than a second clear of Norris.
Afterwards, the Briton said: “I was praying for one more lap. One or two more laps would have been beautiful, and I think I would have had him. I was pushing like hell until the very last lap but I lost out a little bit too much to Max in the beginning.
“He was much better in the first stint, and we were stronger in the second. I think we’re at a point now where we can happily say we’re fighting against Ferrari and Red Bull. We’re fighting for first or second now.
“For the team it’s very good. It gives them a good amount of confidence. We’re on the right track. We’re fighting against Ferraris and Red Bulls and that’s the expectation now. If we were anything worse than second today, I think we didn’t do a good job and we would have been disappointed.
“We also had a second in China so we’ve had second, first, second, you know and that’s a good sign. Hopefully it continues like that because it’s exciting, it’s tough and it gets you excited every weekend, so I’m looking forward to the next few.”
Norris will get the chance to again take the fight to Verstappen and Red Bull next weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix, a race where the championship leaders have habitually shone.
Meanwhile, teammate Oscar Piastri, who finished the race in fourth, said his McLaren team should now be “confident enough to say wherever we go, we can fight for a win”.
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Verstappen’s own assessment of his latest win was “f***ing hell mate, I had to work hard for that”, while Lewis Hamilton, who could only finish sixth, said of his race: “We’re in no man’s land.”
