Lando Norris has contended that “people outside underestimate” Red Bull as he repudiated the notion that McLaren’s main rival in Formula 1 is weaker at slow speed.
The widespread consensus that McLaren would dominate proceedings at the previous race at Imola didn’t transpire as Max Verstappen beat Norris and Oscar Piastri.
But McLaren has been touted to recover with a win this weekend as the MCL39 is thought to be the best-equipped car to navigate Monaco’s tight and twisting streets.
The Red Bull camp has echoed that sentiment as Verstappen, who came sixth 12 months ago, has indicated that Red Bull will be engaged in damage limitation mode.
“If you look at the season so far, we’ve only really been properly competitive on high-speed corners,” Verstappen acknowledged. “Monaco is not a high-speed track.
“I’m a little more reserved for this weekend. Even if you have the best car, to nail it in qualifying around here is very tough.
“We just have to see what happens tomorrow and work from there. I have no idea where we are in the order.
“Historically, we’ve not been particularly great on street circuits. Hopefully we can change that a bit, but I don’t know.”
Norris insists Red Bull ‘underestimated’
Norris has not subscribed to that claim, though, as he declared that Red Bull’s competitiveness through Imola’s limited slow-speed sections dispelled that impression.
Put to him that Red Bull struggled at Monaco last season, Norris retorted to media including Motorsport Week: “Last year? We’re in 2025 now.
“Well, they won last weekend. They’ve been [on] pole several times this season, Max has won several races, [he] should have won in Saudi [Arabia].
“There’s also slow speed corners in Imola where they were very strong.
“I think we have more of the facts than I think what people on the outside do. There’s a lot of negative stuff about how bad their car is, but they’re very quick.
“We’ve said it the whole season, outside people have underestimated them.
“They’re a threat, they have been the whole year, they will continue to be, especially when you have a team that has won many World Championships, especially in the last 5-10 years.
“And they have Max, and I don’t think you can ever doubt them.
“They won last weekend because they deserved it, they were good in slow speed, they were good in high speed, and they have a good car.
“But like we saw between Miami and Imola for ourselves, we can look like heroes one weekend and then we get beat in the next.
“And it’s not because anything changed, literally just the track. The car is the same, tyres were the same, it’s literally just the track is different, and we go from one to the other.
“We just take every weekend as it comes; they could be amazing here, we’ll wait and see.”
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