McLaren Boss Admits That He Expected Max Verstappen to Win the Brazil Sprint Despite Lando Norris Being on Pole

Despite claiming pole position in the Sprint, Lando Norris eventually had to settle with P2 after Max Verstappen overtook him at the start. However, as per a report by F1Maximaal, McLaren boss Andrea Stella believes that Norris wouldn’t have managed to win even if he kept the lead at the start of the race.

Stella said, “If the situation had been the other way around, we would undoubtedly have been attacked by Verstappen.” Norris started the Sprint from P1 but Verstappen managed to get a better start off the line and overtook the Briton into turn 1. From there on, Norris managed to follow the Red Bull closely but failed to make any headway. Finally, he came home in second place, with Verstappen registering his fourth Sprint win of the season.

LANDO NORRIS TAKES P2 IN THE #BrazilianGP SPRINT 👏🏆#F1 #McLaren #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/IJHgQjI8V0

— McLaren F1 Updates 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇦🇺 (@TheMcLarenZone) November 4, 2023

As for McLaren, however, even if they did think about attacking the Red Bull at one point in time, Stella admitted that it would have been quite difficult for them to complete the overtake. “Our speed was good until halfway through the race. In fact, we had a minimal deficit,” said Stella.

Lando Norris seems to have figured out the issues with his race starts

Andrea Stella also explained that the team would have a look at what caused the poor start for Lando Norris and they would want to work on it. Stella explained that the slow start could have various reasons ranging from the clutch to the gears.

As it turns out, the team did manage to figure everything out and Norris had an exceptional start during the main race on Sunday. Starting the race from P6, Norris had an extremely quick reaction time and managed to make up 4 places within one corner.

🎙️#Norris: “In the second start I was more aggressive. I’m very happy for P2 which is the most we could get. It was tough with the wind and the conditions, but yeah very happy”#F1 | #BrazilGP 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/osdsnOGUVA

— Bad Post F1 (@BadpostF1) November 5, 2023

Once again, he pulled away from the rest of the pack and managed to follow Max Verstappen. However, even this time, he did not have the pace required to overtake the Red Bull at the front and had to settle for another P2.

However, it will definitely be a good sign for McLaren as they are definitely the best of the rest at the moment. If they can continue this level of progress then they might be able to come out as the main rivals for Red Bull in 2024.