Lando Norris has pinpointed a key area which saw McLaren “struggle” against Red Bull at the Formula 1 Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The Woking-based squad has, more often than not, been the class of the field so far in 2025, and has left its rivals, including Red Bull, trailing in its wake.
However, that was not the case at Imola, with Max Verstappen streaking clear to a dominant victory, having dispatched Oscar Piastri at the start of the race.
Verstappen’s only other triumph of the season so far came in Japan, in which the RB21, which has struggled in many of the races, benefited from the Suzuka circuit’s fast, sweeping corners.
Speaking to media including Motorsport Week after the race, Norris theorised that the Imola circuit provided a similar relief to Red Bull, and saw the tables turned on McLaren.
“It didn’t really feel great anywhere, to be honest,” Norris, who came home second behind Verstappen, said.
“Yeah, I don’t know. It didn’t feel wonderful to drive. But sometimes it doesn’t, you know, and you’re just quick. So it’s a little bit difficult to say.
“It’s just a very bumpy track. A lot of these high-speed corners where we seem to maybe struggle a little bit comparing to the Red Bulls.
“That’s where we suffered the whole season so far is the high-speed corners. So we have to work in that area.
“And maybe that’s proved to hurt us a little bit more this weekend. But we said it from the beginning that we have to keep working hard.
“Max has out-qualified us several times. Their pace just converted today onto Sunday. Sometimes they’ve been ahead, but their pace on Sunday has not been too strong.
“They maybe worked on some things and their pace was better today. And that’s the price we pay for not being quick enough.”
Impressive recovery drive at Imola ‘a fun one’
Norris started the race in a less-than-enviable fourth position, at a circuit which has become notoriously difficult to overtake on.
But Norris put up an impressive and spirited drive, and overtook team-mate Piastri late on to secure second place, ensuring he took a small chunk out of the Australian’s title lead.
Norris expressed that he was initially surprised about how competitive Red Bull was going to be, and intimated he made the best out of an unideal situation.
“I mean, it’s probably the best result I thought we could really achieve today,” he said. “I probably just didn’t expect the Red Bull to be quite as quick as they were.
“So I’m happy with second. Yeah, from fourth was a good race. But yeah, Max was too fast today. So it was a fun one.”
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