Lando Norris has claimed that McLaren has considered Ferrari as the team’s largest threat to winning the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship “since 10 races ago”.
Ferrari taking consecutive victories in the United States and Mexico has seen it overhaul Red Bull to become McLaren’s nearest contender with four rounds remaining.
The Italian marque began the season as Red Bull’s closest challenger until updates in June triggered accentuated bouncing which contributed to a mid-season slump.
However, Ferrari’s upgrades in Italy and Singapore have seen the team rediscover its competitive edge to have the quickest car in race trim in the previous two rounds.
With 29 points now separating the sides that last won titles in 2008, Norris has revealed McLaren anticipated Ferrari enacting a turnaround to emerge as its main rival.
“Our battle with Ferrari in the Constructors has been evident since 10 races ago,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week in the lead-up to the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
“It was clear that the momentum McLaren and Ferrari had was way more than Red Bull.
“Ferrari have been our biggest competitor since nine, 10 races ago already. They were the guys we knew at the end of the year would be fighting, not Red Bull.
“But yeah, from a Constructor point of view, Red Bull have a much bigger job to do now.
“They can afford to take much bigger risks and do these types of things. I hope that they pay off.
“But yeah, I think we’ve been doing a good job, like I just said, staying out of trouble, keeping the cars clean.
“I think we’ve had a couple of unlucky weekends, both from either my side or Oscar’s side, like last weekend.
“But we have to do a better job, especially against Ferrari. We need two cars up there fighting every weekend if we want to keep the time.”
Verstappen an obstacle in McLaren-Ferrari battle
Norris retaining a chance in the Drivers’ Championship has hindered McLaren as Max Verstappen’s aggressive driving against the Briton has limited the team’s points.
But while McLaren boss Andrea Stella has acknowledged that has been an obstacle, he has echoed Norris’ comments surrounding Ferrari’s renewed competitiveness.
“The complication associated to Ferrari being part of this championship quest, I think now is more material because of the numbers,” Stella explained.
“But for us, personally, at McLaren, we have always internally talked of Ferrari being a potential problem in terms of being a candidate for the championship.
“It has been very clear that, especially at Monza and afterwards, they had a very fast car. They improved in their top speed. They improved in terms of their downforce.
“And at some of the events, they didn’t maximise what was at stake for them. Like if we think back to Baku, I think they had the pace to win the race, Singapore.
“So it has become more evident, but for us it’s always been the case. We knew that Ferrari was in the quest.
“Clearly, in the last two events, if we look at Lando’s race, we allegedly lost some points because of the interactions with Max.
“It’s racing. We need to take these things into account. The best thing we can do is just be as fast as possible and not even be in the range. This is a joke!
“I think Red Bull will always be there. It’s a very optimistic prospect. But I think we are reassured by the way these kind of close situations have been handled in Mexico.
“This gives us some reassurance for the future and ultimately it’s racing, it’s F1 racing. We need to accept this and do our best.”
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