McLaren’s Lando Norris believes main opponents Ferrari can be “easily ahead” if the Italian outfit can resolve some of its primary issues.
McLaren and Ferrari have been locked in a closely-fought battle for third place in the Constructors’ Championship through the opening eight events.
McLaren currently holds a 12-point buffer over Ferrari though the latter has had fluctuating levels of performance at recent events.
Ferrari claimed back-to-back poles in Monaco and Azerbaijan, slumped out of the points amid tyre constraints in France, and impressed with its recovery display in Styria.
Carlos Sainz surged from 12th on the grid to sixth while Charles Leclerc suffered front wing damage on the opening lap but carved his way from 18th to seventh.
Norris beat Sainz and Leclerc in Styria, classifying fifth, extending his streak of points finishes to 13 races, but is wary of Ferrari’s potential.
“They are a little bit up and down,” said Norris. “It is not like they’re in trouble at every race. Paul Ricard was particularly bad for them.
“But a lot of tracks will suit them more than us. They struggle in the straights still. But on the GPS they are one of the best in the corners, similar to Mercedes. They are a big threat at the moment.
“We are still working hard, that is why we are not taking anything for granted at the moment.
“We have to keep chipping away and improving the car because once they [Ferrari] put it all together they can easily be ahead of us. It’s tough.
“Most of the time this year they have out qualified us, and they have been on pole two or three times. It shows that they have a very good car.
“As soon as they sort their problems in the race then they are flying. In some ways you would say they have a better car than us in certain scenarios and tracks and situations.”
Norris suspects that Ferrari had the outright speed to beat McLaren in Styria without their respective setbacks.
“[Sainz] came from a long way back,” he said. “I knew he was behind me, at some point in the race where he was ahead of me, and he had not stopped yet.
“I knew he was going to be very fast at the end [of the race] because it is the same strategy he did with us in 2019. So a little bit expected from him, which is of course okay, but if they started behind us they probably could’ve finished ahead or been a lot more of a threat.”
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