Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing had a successful outing at the Canadian Grand Prix, securing a race-day victory. Lando Norris, McLaren’s driver, believes that having two strong drivers in their team gives them an advantage in their rivalry with Red Bull in Formula 1. McLaren has been pressuring Red Bull, with Norris achieving a podium finish in Canada. His teammate, Oscar Piastri, also had a good performance, earning points for the team. While Verstappen has won two races recently, his partner at Red Bull, Sergio Perez, has been struggling, contributing only four points in the last three races. Norris sees this as an opportunity for McLaren to continue their pursuit and compete against Ferrari. He believes that McLaren’s strength lies in having two consistent drivers who extract maximum performance from their cars. Norris acknowledges that other teams on the grid do not have this advantage. McLaren aims to maintain its consistency and continue seeking improvements to remain competitive, especially with the addition of Mercedes to the mix, which will make scoring significant points more challenging.
However, Verstappen, who has secured six victories in nine races this season, argues that he has been able to mitigate the impact of Perez’s absence.
“At the end of the day, as long as you keep winning and scoring 25 points, even if others finish second or third, you don’t suffer significant losses,” he evaluated.
“And sometimes, you can afford these occasional setbacks.”
Verstappen acknowledged that Perez’s race was compromised after he fell to a second consecutive elimination in Q1 and was forced to start in 16th place.
“Obviously, the damage was already done for Checo yesterday,” he admitted. “Starting from the back is very difficult in these conditions.”
“And then, of course, I saw him abandon due to the damage. So I knew I had to score a lot of points to prevent the other teams from getting too close.
However, Verstappen confessed that having Perez closer to him is crucial for Red Bull’s goals and placed the responsibility on the team to provide a more cooperative car.
“Naturally, we always want both cars to be up there,” he added. “And I have no doubt that this will change very soon.
“So, yes, we just need to improve our car, to be honest, and make it easier to drive and more comfortable.
“And then I am confident that both cars will be back up there, just like they were at the beginning of the season.”
