Lando Norris will go in search of his second Formula 1 victory at the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend. When Red Bull had an off-weekend in Monaco last time out, it was Ferrari who capitalised.
Charles Leclerc took pole position and then led every single lap of the race, with Max Verstappen down in sixth and Sergio Perez out after a first-lap crash. McLaren may see it as a missed opportunity.
Unusually, Oscar Piastri was the lead driver, rather than Norris. The Australian qualified on the front row on Saturday, out-pacing his teammate by just over a tenth of a second.
And then, with the race neutralised by the early red flag and the opportunity for a free tyre change, they held position throughout the Grand Prix. Piastri scored his best result of the season in second, with Norris fourth.
Still, the Englishman gained a spot in the championship thanks to Perez’s retirement. He arrives in Montreal in third place, 56 adrift of leader Verstappen.
The title holder hasn’t struck an especially confident note coming into the race. While Red Bull shouldn’t have more problems with bumps on the resurfaced track, the car doesn’t ride kerbs as well as the McLaren and the Ferrari, and that’s a big point emphasis at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Lando Norris hit back at Ted Kravitz over Monaco nightclub visit
Speaking on Ted’s Podbook, Sky Sports F1 presenter Ted Kravitz relayed an uncomfortable interaction with Norris during Thursday’s media day. He jokingly asked the 24-year-old about his visit to a famous nightclub in Monaco after his fourth-place finish.
Kravitz fears that Norris took the question the wrong way, adopting a defensive stance at the notion that his conduct may have been improper. It’s unclear whether he meant what he said in jest.
The Miami Grand Prix victor hasn’t shied away from directly addressing his critics. For instance, he hit back at the ‘Lando No-wins’ trolls in his Instagram comments after breaking his duck last month.
“Did you hear my torturous interview with Lando?” Kravitz said. “I started with ‘how was the party at Jimmy’z nightclub on Sunday night in Monaco?’, where he went to celebrate because he lives there.
“As George Russell says, Lando parties even when he hasn’t won the race. It was a fairly jokey question, old man refers to young people’s nightclub, and Lando looked at me and said ‘racing drivers should be allowed to go off and celebrate, why can’t we have a private life, you don’t need to know what happened?'”
Damon Hill predicts McLaren one-two at Canadian Grand Prix
On the track, 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill is optimistic about McLaren’s fortunes this weekend. He thinks they could be in line for their first one-two finish since Daniel Ricciardo beat Norris at the 2021 Italian Grand Prix.
But intriguingly, he’s predicted that it will be Piastri who bags his maiden win ahead of the sister car. He reckons Verstappen will have to settle for third on what could be another challenging weekend for Red Bull.
Norris leads Piastri 6-2 in qualifying and 6-2 in races – Monaco marked the first time he’d lost out since the Saudi Arabian GP at the start of March. But his sophomore teammate is improving all the time.
Indeed, McLaren team principal Andreas Stella has applauded the strides he’s made in terms of tyre management. They’d held private talks with him over how he could improve in that vital area.
Now that the Woking outfit are in a position to regularly fight for the top step of the podium, the amicable relationship between the two drivers could be tested. Indeed, Zak Brown admits it’s inevitable that they will ‘tangle’ at some point.
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