Do McLaren now have the fastest car in F1?
McLaren boss൩es quizzed whether they possess the best car in Formul📖a 1
McLaren bosses have played down questions aꦆbout hav♓ing the fastest car in F1 despite Lando Norris’ win at the Dutch Grand Prix.
Norris claimed pole pos🔯ition on Saturday then converted it into victory on 𒉰Sunday by a margin of 22 seconds ahead of second-place Max Verstappen.
With Red Bull now winleꦦss in the past five races, Zandvoort could be the moment remembered as McLaren’s takeover as having the best car in the sport.
“It was a bigꦿ gap,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown said𓆉 to Sky Sports.
“We knew that we were fast all weekend. I am not shocked but I am pleas📖antly surprised at the size of the gap.
“Once Lan💫do got into clean air he controlled it pretty easily.
“We don’t know about each track until we get theℱre.
“T🔴he upgrades clearly worked. We need to keep our feet on the ground and not assume that will be a repeat every weekend.”
He was asked if McLaren’s car is now faster than the once-mighty Red Bull RB20, and▨ he answered: “I think it’s hard to tell. Clearly we have a very fast car.
“We have more fun stuff coming aꦇt Monza which is a different type of track. I think Red Bull will be quick there.”
Team principal Andrea Stella added: “Having the fastest c🦂ar depends ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚon the conditions.
“Barcelona, Hungary, here… it suited our car. Now having upgraded, let’s see if it can be the best car🌊 at every venue. This is the objective.”
Stella sai♔d about Norris’ win: “Satisfying, beyond expectation.
“We knew the car was performing well b🉐ut today was a positive surprise, in te🌃rms of how fast it was.
“It’s great that Lando could capitalise with a dominant victory. Oscar got stuck in t💞ra🐻ffic, he deserved a podium and he could have attacked Verstappen.”
McLaren are now 🏅just 30 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ champi♍onship.
“We are in a strong trend and we should belie💞ve in it,” Stella said about toppling Red Bull.
“We’ll give our best🍨 but we are fighting Red Bull who have been dominant in previous seasons.
“We have the performance to give it a go.”
Sky Sports’ Bernie Collins analysed: “Last year they were the most im🅺proved team. We thought ‘can it continue?’
“It’s more reꦍmarkable this year. To win with this margin, we w🅘ere not expecting that. To get pole with that margin, we did not expect that.”
The F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza next weekend offers McLaren - who promise to bring💃 new upgrades - another opportunity to claw at Red Bull.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything𒁃 from Ameri🦩can sports, to football, to F1.
