Lando Norris is convinced he could have beaten Max Verstappen to win the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix if he’d had one or two more laps.
The McLaren driver closed on Verstappen over the final laps of the race but crossed the finishing line just seven-tenths of a second behind the winner.
Norris only closed within DRS range of the leader on the final lap, and is convinced he could have attacked Verstappen for victory had the race gone on longer.
“It hurts me to say, but one or two more laps and I think I would have had him,” said Norris. “It’s tough, a shame.”
He said he lost too much time early in the race when Verstappen built up a lead over more than six seconds.
“I fought hard, right until the very last lap but just lost out a little it too much to Max in the beginning,” he said. “He was much better in the first stint and obviously in the second stint we were stronger.
“It just was a tough first half and a much better second half and one or two more laps would have been beautiful, but just not today.”
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Verstappen said he wasn’t able to relax at any point in the race despite his early lead. “The whole race I had to push flat-out to try and make a gap initially,” he said. “I think on the medium tyres we were quite strong. On the hard tyres it was just a bit more difficult to manage.
“Especially the last 10, 15 laps, I had no grip any more. I was really sliding a lot.”
The Red Bull driver had the added concern that he had picked up three strikes for exceeding track limits and a fourth would mean an automatic time penalty.
“I saw Lando closing in, the last 10 laps was just flat-out but it is very difficult when the tyres are not working any more and you have to go flat-out,” he said. “I couldn’t afford to make too many mistakes.”
“Luckily we didn’t and I’m super-happy, of course, to win here today.”
Norris, who scored his first Formula 1 victory in Miami two weeks ago, admitted he still finds it strange to feel disappointed not to win races.
“I think we’re at a point now where we can happily say we’re in the position of Ferrari and Red Bull,” he said. “So that’s what we have to get used to.
“But the team are doing a good job. I think we’re all doing a very good job. So it’s business as usual, it’s focusing on doing the same things, it’s just we’re fighting for first or second now.
“So it’s still a surprise to say it’s frustrating not to win…
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