Martin Brundle spots key Lando Norris change in latest Verstappen duel
Lando Norris won his wheel-to-wheel fight against Max Verstappen in Miami
Lando Norris rose to the Max Verstappen challenge at the Miami Grand Prix, with Sky F1 pundit Martin Brundle declaring the McLaren driver is now “wise” to his Red Bull rival’s tactics.
First and second in the last two world championship fights, with Verstappen taking the honours and then Norris, the good friends have shared several wheel-to-wheel tussles over the last few years.
Martin Brundle spots crucial Lando Norris change
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Most, though, have gone the way of Verstappen, although a fair few of those have ended in penalties for the Dutch racer.
Undoubtedly, the more aggressive of the two racers, Verstappen has not held back in his on-track battles against Norris, with the Briton saying he sees it as a “compliment.”
It was more of the same at last weekend’s Miami Grand Prix when they went wheel-to-wheel for position as both McLaren and Red Bull introduced upgrades that reduced their deficit to runaway championship leaders Mercedes.
Verstappen pitted on lap 7 of the grand prix, having spun on the opening lap, and was leading the pack as those ahead of him came in for their pit stops.
He lost the lead to Kimi Antonelli on lap 29, with Norris the next to close in on the four-time world champion’s rear wing.
Norris attacked Verstappen down the back straight only for the Red Bull driver to move down the inside. But expecting that move from Verstappen, Norris pulled off a cutback move to take second place from Verstappen.
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Sky F1 commentator Brundle was impressed.
“Will he try to lunge back?” Brundle said in the broadcast. “Yes, he will!
“At which point Norris will tuck underneath him, and then, presumably, in Turns 17 and 18, grabs the high ground. We’ve still got to pay attention all the way down into Turn 1.
“Lando’s wise enough these days to know that Max is going to come back at him.”
Norris finished the grand prix in second place while Verstappen dropped to fifth.
P2 marked Norris and McLaren’s best result in a grand prix this season, with the Woking team pushing Ferrari off the pace and outscoring championship leaders Mercedes.
Former Aston Martin strategist Bernie Collins believes this could be a sign of things to come from the reigning world champions.
“McLaren, we’ve seen in the past have been very, very good at upgrading that car, very good at bringing development to it, to try and close that gap,” she said.
“The Miami Sprint last weekend, they were right there. They got on the Sprint weekend very, very quickly. So, the question is that development race as we go through the year.
“Can Mercedes hold on to the lead that they have at this stage? Or can McLaren close that gap?
“We don’t know the answer to that, or we won’t, I think, for several races into the season.
“So, I think this season has the potential to really push drivers and teams right to the end of the year.”
Four races into the season, McLaren are third in the Constructors’ Championship, 86 behind Mercedes, while Norris is up to P4 in the Drivers’ standings. He trails Antonelli by 49 points.
However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella firmly believes McLaren is in the hunt for both titles.
“I think if we now started to consider championships at the end of the season, then we need to be a bit careful,” Stella told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets in Miami.
“We are just at our fourth race. We have just delivered our first upgrade.
“McLaren looks traditionally like [we] have done very well in Miami. So it could be that the way we develop our cars suit these circuits. So we have to see more.
“But at the same time, it’s only the fourth race and we have scored a good chunk of points, even compared to Mercedes.
“We know that we can further develop our car. We have said already before Miami that the championship is not a sign-off.
“So our logic is to look at the long term, try and defend the championship.
“But as soon as we say that, we come back in the present and we do the right thing today, because there’s really not much point in thinking so far forward.
“But definitely, we want to defend the championship.”
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