“He was on it the whole weekend” – Carlos Sainz praises former McLaren teammate Lando Norris for Imola podium

“He was on it the whole weekend” – Ferrari F1 driver Carlos Sainz has come out in full praise of his former McLaren teammate Lando Norris for a brilliant weekend in Imola.

Lando Norris had a roller-coaster of an Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with highs and lows in equal measure. The McLaren star did a brilliant job in his final lap in qualifying, only for the lap to be deleted for track limits infringement.

This meant he started the race P7 instead, rather than in Row 2. But the Brit was in full mood to create an impact, a fantastic performance capped by an overtake of Charles Leclerc at the race restart to grab the second podium of his F1 career. This certainly impressed his former teammate at McLaren Carlos Sainz, who also congratulated him right after the race got done.

“It looked like this weekend Lando did a very good job of exploiting the whole car potential. He was on it the whole weekend, especially from Saturday onwards and he did a good race.

“It is very tight (the battle with McLaren). Maybe they had a bit of the upper hand this weekend or they had the upper hand a tiny bit the last two weekends. But as soon as we do a very good weekend and we go to a track that maybe favors us a bit, I think we can be ahead.

“I think the McLaren has its strengths and weaknesses so what makes it like a really nice fight is that we are quick in very different places on the track and it makes it a very fun battle.”

Previously related article “Maybe we crash at race one next year!” – Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz commit to keep ‘Carlando content’ going