Lando Norris expects “big challenge” to beat Max Verstappen at Italian GP

Lando Norris has warned it won’t be easy to overtake Max Verstappen for the victory at the Italian Grand Prix, labelling it a “big challenge”.

Norris is set to start Sunday’s race at Monza from second on the grid after being pipped by Verstappen to pole.

It wasn’t an entirely straightforward qualifying session for the McLaren driver.

He needed a late effort to safely make it into Q2, relying on the slipstream of teammate and championship rival, Oscar Piastri.

Similarly, in Q3, Norris was down in seventh after the first runs, as he completed his first lap without a tow.

Norris briefly took provisional pole but was beaten by Verstappen, who smashed Lewis Hamilton’s 2020 track record in the Mercedes W11.

Speaking after qualifying, like teammate Piastri, Norris wasn’t surprised to see Verstappen on pole.

“No, no, no. Max has been quicker this weekend, and it’s never a surprise with Max,” Norris said at Monza.

“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.

“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.”

Norris labels race “big challenge”

With Red Bull’s straight-line speed advantage and Verstappen’s impressive race run in FP2, Lando Norris predicts it will be difficult to beat him.

“Our race on Sunday is normally our strength,” Norris explained. “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.”