Red Bull and McLaren are engaged in a battle for the World Championship, which the latter currently has the upper hand in. Lando Norris, in the faster McLaren, is also expected to end Max Verstappen’s dominance with the right support from his team. Former driver Pedro de la Rosa, however, feels nothing is set in stone yet.
Speaking to F1 media, De la Rosa was asked to choose between Norris and Verstappen. After some thought, he stated that while Norris (McLaren) has the better car, he is still 62 points behind the Red Bull driver, even though the latter continues to struggle with the RB20.
De la Rosa, who previously drove for Mclaren, decided to give Red Bull the advantage. This came particularly after Christian Horner’s latest words, which suggest that the Milton-Keynes-based team knows what it has to do to improve. “What we have to do is have a simpler car. If you look at the McLaren, it looks almost like an evolution of last year’s car and it’s a much simpler car than ours.”
Christian Horner: “If you look at McLaren, it almost looks like an evolution of last year’s car, a much simpler car than ours.”
“Perhaps we’ve gone a little too complex [with the RB20] – and perhaps we need simplify a few things.”
[https://t.co/jTyoasKP3a] pic.twitter.com/okHudtSGhR
— RBR Daily (@RBR_Daily) September 9, 2024
Citing Horner’s comments, De La Rosa said,
“They are weeks ahead of what Christian is saying to all of us. They are fixing the problems in the winter. So let’s be patient.”
Red Bull currently holds a slender eight-point lead over McLaren in the Constructors’ championship standings. However, they are likely to lose that lead to the papaya outfit in the next race (in Azerbaijan) due to McLaren’s current superiority. Yet, according to De la Rosa’s words, the Austrian team could still mount a comeback.
Verstappen has the advantage, but Norris still has a fighting chance
With two drivers—Norris and Oscar Piastri—in top form and only an eight-point deficit, the scales tip heavily in McLaren’s favor as they head into the Azerbaijan GP.
In the Drivers’ championship, however, Norris still has a lot of work to do. With just eight races remaining, the Bristol-born driver must aim for wins in each to close the 62-point gap to Verstappen.
While Norris has the faster car, Verstappen still holds the advantage in the standings. Additionally, McLaren has often made costly errors in their race strategies, allowing other teams to capitalize and steal points. If Norris wants to claim his first championship, such mistakes must be avoided.
