Botched McLaren Mind-Games Couldn’t Help Lando Norris Get Past Alex Albon at Monza

An exciting battle between Williams’ Alex Albon and McLaren’s Lando Norris entertained fans who were watching the 2023 Italian GP in Monza. In the end, it was Albon who prevailed, finishing ahead of Norris at the end of the race, but not before McLaren tried to outsmart the British team unsuccessfully.

Overtaking was difficult for all the drivers in Monza, with even the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez struggling at times. However, Norris found it exceptionally difficult to make a move past the Williams of Albon, especially due to the latter’s impressive straight-line speed.

Towards the end of the race, the Woking-based outfit tried to get a bit too creative. They were desperate for Norris to get the P7 spot from Albon, so they resorted to playing mind games against Williams. Thankfully for the latter and its fans, that didn’t work.

McLaren’s failed mind games to help Lando Norris

As reported by Sky Sports’ F1 blog, McLaren took to the radio to call Norris in for a pit-stop on lap 41. This was surprising because all the drivers were gearing up for their final push before the chequered flag was waved. Had Norris pitted, he would have definitely lost ground to Albon, and would seemingly not get enough time to make a move past him in the closing stages.

However, this radio call was a “dummy” to try and bait Williams into pitting Albon too. Fortunately for him, his team decided against calling him in. Both drivers stayed out to battle things out in the final few laps.

Albon prevailed and brought home eight crucial points for Williams, who is looking increasingly impressive as the season progresses. Most of these impressive performances have been spearheaded by Albon.

Albon and Williams’ rise this season

The Williams name was not a topic of discussion for the majority of the first half this year. However, with time, they have improved significantly. Albon in particular, as shown great pace especially in qualifying. Plus, the Thai-British driver has been challenging for the top 10 in almost every single race.

In comparison, his teammate Logan Sargeant hasn’t been able to score a single point so far this season. Still, the American rookie too, is showing that he is headed in the right direction. Sargeant finished just outside the points in P11 in Monza on Sunday. However, a five second-time penalty for causing a collision demoted him to P13 at the end of the race.

As for McLaren’s Norris, he won’t be too happy with his P8 result. Norris and the papaya outfit were close to the Red Bulls before the season-break. They will be hoping to climb their way back to similar levels when F1 returns in Singapore.