Lando Norris has claimed “two is better than one” when it comes to McLaren boasting both drivers at the sharp end in its developing Formula 1 contest with Red Bull.
McLaren has continued to ramp up the pressure on Red Bull since Norris was victorious in Miami as he secured a fifth podium in seven races in Canada at the last round.
With team-mate Oscar Piastri also delivering his MCL38 home inside the top five, McLaren has amassed the most points on the grid across the previous three rounds.
Although Max Verstappen has managed two wins over that timeframe, Red Bull partner Sergio Perez experienced another miserable outing as he crashed and retired.
The Mexican has contributed a pitiful four points over the last three races and Norris has pinpointed his ongoing woes as an element that could aid McLaren’s pursuit.
“To be honest, at the minute, I think between Ferrari and us [is the fight], so we’ll keep pushing and I think that’s one of our biggest strengths at the minute,” Norris said.
“We have two drivers as McLaren who are up there not making mistakes and getting pretty much everything out of the car every single weekend.
“Yeah, it’s rare that there’s not many other teams on the grid that have such a thing. So for us, it’s more out of what we can do against Ferrari.
“Again, we’ve been a more consistent team coming into this weekend. They’ve had some mistakes and just struggled a little bit more for whatever reason.
“But in the end of the day, I think two is going to be better than one, you know, in Max’s case.
“So we’re doing a good job, but we still need to keep pushing on and try and bring more upgrades and things like that.
“Because with Mercedes joining, it’s only going to make it harder to score big points like we did today.”
However, Verstappen, who has picked up six wins from nine races this term, has contended that he’s been able to mitigate the damage Perez’s absence has enforced.
“I do think at the end of the day, as long as you keep winning, so you score 25 points, even if the others finish P2, P3, you don’t really lose out too much,” he assessed.
“And then, you know, you kind of can afford sometimes these one-offs.”
Verstappen conceded that Perez’s race was compromised once he slipped to a second consecutive Q1 elimination and was resigned to starting down in 16th place.
“I mean, of course, I think the damage was done yesterday, of course, for Checo,” he acknowledged. “You know, starting in the back, it’s very hard in these conditions.
“Then, of course, I saw him retire with the damage. So I knew that I had to score big, of course, to not let the other teams catch up a lot.
But the Dutchman has admitted that having Perez closer to him is vital to Red Bull’s ambitions and has placed the onus on the side to deliver a more compliant car.
“Of course, naturally, we always want the two cars to be up there,” he continued. “And I also have no doubt that that will change very soon again.
“So, yeah, we just need to work on our car, to be honest, to make it a bit easier to drive also, probably, to feel a bit more comfortable.
“And then I’m sure that we have both cars back up there like we had in the beginning of the season.”
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