Lando Norris says he was “praying” for yet another lap to beat Max Verstappen on the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Norris was 7.5 seconds behind Verstappen with 20 laps to go however started to make huge inroads as he managed his exhausting tyres higher than the Pink Bull driver.
The McLaren driver by no means bought DRS on Verstappen however crossed the road simply 0.725s behind and needed to accept second in Imola.
“I was praying for one more lap! I did everything I could,” stated Norris.
“I used to be pushing like hell to catch as much as get there and have an opportunity. As quickly as you get inside two seconds you lose downforce and grip, the tyres begin to overheat.
“I struggled for a pair laps, however as soon as I understood how I needed to drive once more, I managed to get there on the final lap.
“Seven tenths, one more lap and at least he would have to defend into Turn One and maybe something could have come from that. But one lap too late. It’s a shame, but it is what it is. And we just struggled too much in the beginning of the race.”
Norris suggests McLaren set automobile up wrongly
It was a comparatively quiet race earlier than the closing levels as Norris stayed in second place and held off Charles Leclerc at first.
Leclerc tried to assault Norris after the one and solely spherical of pit stops, earlier than the British driver discovered his rhythm with the exhausting tyre.
Since F1 returned to Imola in 2020, Sunday’s race was by far the warmest and Norris says he would have modified the entrance wing set-up with the information of how sizzling it was.
“We were expecting it to be colder than what it was, so we kind of set up the car more for colder conditions rather than hot. I think we paid the price in general,” he defined.
“That’s why I had to do so much of an introduction to the tyres and bring them up gently and look after them because if I didn’t I would have fallen off a cliff like the others did.
“My solely likelihood was to drive my race and that meant being beneath stress from Charles for extra laps than I’d have favored.
“As as soon as I cleared the traffic and got back into my own rhythm then I felt good that it’s the car, the tyres came back to me, I could push and I was happy.”
Verstappen overcomes observe limits warnings
Verstappen was given a black-and-white flag within the first half of the race for observe limits, which means one other breach for going extensive would have resulted in a penalty.
The reigning world champion did not put a foot fallacious although and says the closing laps have been “extremely difficult”.
“I had to be a bit more careful from that point onwards but the problem is, at the beginning I was understeering on the medium and that was pushing me off sometimes when I missed the apex,” stated Verstappen.
“After that, on the hards, I left a bit more margin. The last few laps, when Lando was catching, it was harder because I had to use the track as much as I could.
“However we stayed inside the traces and it undoubtedly requires a bit extra focus. Each exit you need to be actually positive what you are doing.”
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