McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris was satisfied with the pace of his MCL60 at Autodromo Nazionale Monza, finishing off his weekend with an eighth place result at the Italian Grand Prix.
After battling with the Alex Albon throughout the race, Norris commended the Williams Racing driver for his strong performance, having held off the McLarens through to the end.
“A good race. I think the pace was strong today. It was just very difficult to overtake, as usual, but when we didn’t have to overtake, the pace was good.
“We could pressure Alex the whole race, but he did a very good job, so hats off to him and Williams, they were quick this weekend and managed to stay ahead.”
Norris said that eighth place was all the team could have asked for in Monza, and thanked the team back at headquarters for putting together such a strong upgrade after losing some ground to other teams in Spa.
“I think it was the best we could have done, so happy with that. Big thanks go to the team, both at track and at the factory, for reacting after Spa and giving us a more competitive package. We’ll put our heads down now and start focusing on Singapore.”
“A difficult day with plenty of challenges” – Oscar Piastri
Team-mate Oscar Piastri lost out on points in Monza after a clash with Lewis Hamilton in the later stages of the Grand Prix, ultimately finishing the race in twelfth place.
The race started out strong for Piastri, with an “encouraging” level of pace and a few laps leading the race during the initial pit window. He said, however, that his MCL60 couldn’t quite keep up with Albon’s FW45 on the straights, which made it hard to move forward.
“A difficult day with plenty of challenges. Firstly, it was great to lead my first Grand Prix laps, and the overall pace was encouraging today, but unfortunately, we were still lacking in straight-line speed to really take the fight to Alex [Albon].”
Lap twenty-four saw Piastri and Norris make contact in turn one after the Australian driver exited the pit lane, an incident that was by no means favorable for the team. He would later endure the incident with Hamilton, which resulted in a five-second penalty for the Mercedes driver.
Having had his race compromised, Piastri said that there is a lot to be discussed within the team as they shift their focus to the Singapore Grand Prix.
“After the first stint, our race got a little bit more difficult and the incident with Lewis ended our chances of getting points. Lots to debrief on as a team and we’ll aim to come back stronger in Singapore.”
