Red flash
Over the last few weekends Lando Norris was the main ‘anti-Verstappen’. The Englishman from McLaren beat the reigning world champion in Miami and reached the finish line just seven tenths behind in Imola. A result that gave confidence towards Monaco, where however the values seem to be changing again. After Friday in fact Charles Leclerc shoneauthor of the best time in FP2: “We seem to be doing well – commented Norris, analyzing the papaya team’s turn – we’re not bad at all. It’s nice to be back on the track. We lack a little compared to Charles and perhaps the Mercedes. We are all very close together, because the track is smaller. We are in a fight.”.
The owner of the house therefore seems to be the one under special observation – at least for now – inside the McLaren garage. However, before tomorrow’s qualifying it will be fundamental for everyone make the right adjustments to the cars: “Here it is important to have grip at low speed and adapt the balance to this. We tried some things and hopefully we can improve them during the night“Norris pointed out.
Plates back, but optimistic
More ‘hidden’ Oscar Piastriwho did not use a set of soft tires during FP2, finishing the afternoon session with the 12th time. The Australian, however, appeared convinced of the speed of his MCL38, also underlining how many teams are close to each other: “We only ran on a set of softs in FP1, as you only have a certain amount of soft tires to prepare for qualifying. It was a decent day: Ferrari looks fast, Red Bull looks good, Mercedes looks good. I’m happy with how today went. In a couple of laps I grazed the walls, but let’s hope I don’t do that tomorrow. We could be first but we could also be tenth, the Aston seems fast too. There is little distance between everyone. It’s very exciting because the pole is in the hands of the drivers. Whoever puts in a perfect lap will get pole“.
