F1 News
Norris doubts: 'Not in as confident a position as we were in Zandvoort'
- Ludo van Denderen
The Monza circuit cannot be compared to the one at Zandvoort. After a weekend on a narrow, twisty track, the Temple of Speed now awaits. The track, set in a beautiful park, requires low downforce on the cars - like at Spa-Francorchamps, for example. Red Bull Racing's car is expected to be super-fast at Monza. McLaren, on the other hand, does not know in advance how it compares to the competition.
Lando Norris finds it 'difficult' to say whether he has confidence in the low downforce package that McLaren will compete with at the Italian Grand Prix. He continued: "Not as much as what I would like. I think that's obvious. I think we saw in Spa how much we struggled. Even though Spa wasn't where we could have been. If we could redo Spa now, I think we would be in a better position."
Norris expected: 'Better than at Spa'
Since the race in Belgium, McLaren has spent considerable time optimising the downforce package for circuits such as Spa. Monza, that is, where high speeds are also achieved. "Maybe not in as confident a position as we are in Zandvoort or Budapest and Silverstone and things like that, but we're definitely in a better position than where we were in Spa. That’s given me good hope. We've had good races here in the past, and it has been one of our best weekends in the past few years," Norris said.
With that, he thinks back to Daniel Ricciardo's victory in 2021 and his own second place in that Grand Prix. McLaren could do with success again, after not only a lesser result at Spa but ultimately in the rain at Zandvoort last weekend.