Lando Norris deems Max Verstappen a huge ‘THREAT’ in Belgian GP despite starting the race from P11

Max Verstappen's RB20 has so far looked incredibly strong around the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Lando Norris deems Max Verstappen a huge ‘THREAT’ in Belgian GP despite starting the race from P11

Lando Norris and Max Verstappen (via IMAGO)

McLaren driver Lando Norris has refused to rule out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen while competing for the win at the Belgian Grand Prix. Verstappen starts P11 due to a 10-place grid penalty, despite setting the fastest qualifying time yesterday.

Red Bull aced the lap times at Spa on a rain-ridden afternoon in qualifying. The three-time world champion Max Verstappen dominated all three sessions while setting an impressive lap time of 1:53:159 in Q3.

Lando Norris, on the other hand, failed to match the pace of the Red Bulls and was almost nine-tenths slower than Verstappen. Norris has hence deemed the Verstappen-led Milton-Keynes outfit one of the strongest ahead of the Belgian GP.

FS Video
Definitely a threat. I think he’s clearly been quickest all weekend, even yesterday in FP2, they just didn’t turn up the engine, and we had. So considering we were only two-tenths ahead, they had a lot more in their bag, basically. So yes, in a way, a good thing, it shows that we still have a lot more work to do, even after a lot of great races the past few weeks, I think Red Bull have always been there thereabouts.
Lando Norris via Formu1a.uno

Norris has claimed that McLaren still has more pace to find despite their valiant efforts this year. The 24-year-old stars the 44-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps in fourth place and thus, will be looking to score his second win of the 2024 campaign.

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Andrea Stella claims McLaren prioritizes race pace over qualifying at the Belgian GP

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella painted a clear picture of the team’s lacking pace during at qualifying on Saturday. Stella said that the team prioritized on a dry condition setup for the main race.

Andrea Stella
Andrea Stella (via IMAGO)
We didn't want to compromise our set-up for today's conditions, because we know that tomorrow we need the top speed. We were ready to pay a bit of a price in qualifying because we want to have the most reasonable car tomorrow in the right conditions.
Andrea Stella spoke to SkySports F1

Andrea Stella explained that a compromise in the MCL38’s configurations for wetter conditions would hurt their chances later on. Stella then asserted that the Woking-based outfit now appears to have a more fitting setup for dry condition at Spa-Francorchamps .

The Papayas will now hope to finish their strong run on a fruitful note before the summer break. The Belgian GP will prove to be a lively affair as Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull fight for the win at the free flowing 7.004 km circuit .

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