Lando Norris: Passing Max Verstappen a “big challenge” in Italian Grand Prix

Lando Norris has admitted that getting past Italian Grand Prix polesitter Max Verstappen will be a “big challenge” as he is set to start the race at Monza from the front row beside the four-time Formula 1 champion.

Norris missed out on pole position by just 0.077 seconds to the Red Bull driver, and rounding out the top three was Norris’s McLaren team-mate and championship rival Oscar Piastri.

Although McLaren has had an impressive showing so far this season, winning 12 of the 15 grands prix, Norris was not surprised by Verstappen’s pace.

“No, no, no. Max has been quicker this weekend, and it’s never a surprise with Max. It was quite a session for me, just up and down and too many mistakes here and there, but to pull it all together on the last lap was… I was pretty happy. I’m happy with P2.”

Norris added: “I always give my result depending on how I drove today. So I feel like I didn’t do the best of jobs, but to end up P2, I was so happy with. So let’s say good things and bad things.

“P2 is still not a bad position to be off the line. And I mean, I want to be ahead of everyone, that includes my championship contenders and Oscar. It’s a good position for tomorrow, and I’m excited for the race.”

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images

While Norris acknowledged that Sundays have been strong for the Woking outfit, he admitted that getting past Verstappen would be a tough task.

“Our race on Sunday is normally our strength. But to get past Max, I’m sure it’s going to be a big challenge, but we’ll see. Their pace was also very strong. If you see the end of the stint, they’re doing the same lap times as us. So, I don’t expect any magical things, and we have some Ferraris behind. I’m sure we’re going to want to come through as quickly as possible.

“So it’s a long race. Many things can happen, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Photos from Italian GP – Practice & Qualifying