Both the team and Norris himself are acquiring a more serious edge, as the strength in depth of Red Bull and Verstappen is revealed. Red Bull is now turning up at tracks believing it might have the fastest car of the weekend but maybe not. Just as is McLaren. The difference is going to be which of them pulls everything out of what the car can give them. “It’s important not to over-react,” continued Norris. “There are tiny little things to tidy up, as a team. But a lot of it is already where it needs to be. We’re against one of the best-ever drivers in F1, against one of the best performing teams in F1. Everything needs to be executed perfectly and that one thing last week that wasn’t is what cost us…”
It’s a matter of calm fine-honing, focusing in closer on the tiny operational differences, analysing in more detail the deficits in the critical areas. In Montreal the in-the-moment requirement to re-assess the priority of talking through a strategic choice in favour of the imperative provided by the safety car came a few seconds too late. Is there something procedural in the communications which can be improved? Is there something in the sensation through the clutch paddles which could have made the difference at the start in Spain? Something in the software? Is the tyre preparation right?
Listening to their respective radios, Verstappen receives a greater number of direct procedural instructions. It’s as if they are the years-honed refinements of running at the front. Just as were the multiple practice starts Verstappen was doing here in Austria a couple of years ago.
Procedure perfection has helped to keep Verstappen ahead of a racy Norris
Mar Thompson/Getty via Red Bull
It’s a challenge to keep that calm focus when the excitement of winning regularly is so tantalisingly close. The game becomes more serious when the car is fast enough. “Yeah, it’s definitely a bit more nervy,” admits Lando, “but if you compare my Sochi ’21 radio to now it’s completely different. Last week it would have been easy to panic, attacking George [Russell] and taking us off, or in covering the others at the stops. I know we got some criticism for that but only from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.”
Control, making winning a routine, getting everyone into that mental space. It’s a nice challenge to have.
“You’re just more hungry to win and therefore more disappointed if you don’t. It means a bit more. It’s what you’ve dreamt of being able to do since you were a kid.”