Norris: Verstappen is "not racing very smart"
On the back of an action-packed weekend in Miami, McLaren driver Lando Norris insists that four-time world champion Max Verstappen was not "racing very smart" in Florida.
McLaren struggled to beat their rivals over a single qualifying lap, but their MCL39 came alive in race trim, showing truly dominant performance.
Lando Norris got a great start on Sunday and was challenging Verstappen into the first couple of corners, but the Dutchman defended his lead hard, and the Briton was forced to run wide at Turn 2, losing four places and dropping back to sixth.
However, he managed to quickly regain the places he lost at the start, albeit he needed to fight hard against Verstappen, who was eager to hold onto his position.
By the time he picked off Verstappen, Oscar Piastri had built a huge gap and was imperious. Although Norris was constantly closing the gap to his team-mate in the remainder of the race, Piastri’s lead proved too big an advantage to overhaul.
Commenting on his second-place finish after his great victory in the Miami F1 Sprint, Norris insisted that his MCL39 has been "beautiful with great pace."
“A good result for the team today and congratulations to Oscar on the victory, he drove really well this afternoon. Max [Verstappen] put up a fight at the start and frustratingly I paid the price but that's just the way it can be in racing.
"The team have done an amazing job all weekend, the car has been beautiful with great pace and the double-shuffle pit stop was mega. I'll take all these positives and get my head down at the factory to focus on Imola in two weeks' time.”
Although he had a deficit of almost ten seconds from his team-mate Piastri when he could finally get past Verstappen, Norris was eager to chase down the Melbourne-born driver, closing in on the Australian to just over three seconds.
"I gave it a good shot from when I got into second. There was a long way to go, I think 25, 30 laps almost at that point. I probably only stopped pushing the last 4-5 laps.
"The gap went from almost 10 to four or three, almost. I did all I could. I tried the whole race basically until the very end. I kept belief the whole race, but Oscar’s driving well.
"He’s quick. To catch from 10 seconds was always pretty much going to be impossible, but I gave it a good shot. I almost got there. Just not enough laps.
As for his comeback after the first-lap issues, Norris noted: "It was good fun. It was enjoyable. I never wanted to let Oscar get too far out of my sights, but I had to put up a good challenge in the first quarter or third of the race trying to get past the Mercedes, trying to get past the Williams, trying to get past Max.
"So yeah, not an easy start for sure, but I made my way through reasonably quickly I think. And of course, the car was very strong today, so that definitely helps."
Asked about his on-track battle with Max Verstappen, Norris said: that while "it was fine", the Dutch rival was not "racing very smart."
"It was fine. He’s fighting hard, but it’s up to him to do that. He’s ruining his own race. He’s not racing very smart. We probably could have finished 1-2 today, and he didn’t because of that. So yeah, he’s fighting, that is always expected, but that’s what it is."
