After a smashing victory over Red Bull and Max Verstappen at the Dutch GP, Lando Norris was asked in the post-race press conference if he expects McLaren to be just as competitive in Monza. As a nod to the unpredictability of F1, Norris stated that he didn’t even expect Ferrari to have such a good race pace, so he has no idea which of the top four teams would have a strong weekend in Italy.
“I have no idea. You ask us questions like we’re meant to know. I’ve got no idea. Yeah, anyone could be on top. Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull, us. Ferrari were quite quick today. We probably didn’t expect them to be as good as they were”, Norris said.
And it was surprising to see Ferrari so strong on Sunday considering how they were on the back foot for the entirety of the weekend before the race. Throughout the practice sessions, both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz failed to post any sort of competitive lap time.
It became worse in qualifying when Sainz was knocked out in Q2 and Leclerc only managed to get P6. To then get on the podium with Leclerc and a P5 for Sainz was a surprising turnaround with the Italian team expecting a P7-P8 finish at best.
Delivering your Sunday podium pictures #DutchGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/YHByVbCfP0
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 25, 2024
When asked how they’ve managed to turn around their weekend, Leclerc simply said that he has no idea why the car was so strong in the race but almost nine-tenths down on Saturday as the car was exactly the same on both days.
“I don’t think as a team we have the explanation. So it’s a great result… However, we’ve got to understand in order to perform more often at our best.”, the Monegasque remarked.
Nevertheless, heading into Monza, this is a positive result for Ferrari. While they don’t have the momentum to replicate their early season form at the Italian GP, the Maranello team is going to try and make a step up with some upgrades.
Ferrari will hope to have 2023-like resurgence with Monza upgrades
Leclerc revealed that team principal Fred Vasseur told him that the upgrades would arrive on the car in Monza, so they needed to maximize the results before heading into what could be a few strong venues for the Scuderia.
“We’ve got an upgrade coming very soon. Now I can say actually because Fred said it, so it will be in Monza. And that, I hope, will help us and help us close the gap”, the Monegasque noted. Historically, races in Monza, Azerbaijan, and Singapore have been good for Ferrari.
Even last year, Monza and Singapore were two venues where the Italian outfit showcased excellent pace and even secured the win in Singapore. This season too, they would hope for a resurgence in their performance at these two tracks.
However, if that were to happen, it could spell trouble for McLaren as Ferrari is not far behind them in the constructors’ standings. Also, McLaren needs to win most of the races from now on if they want to challenge Verstappen for the drivers’ championship besides the constructors’ championship.
