daniel chigunwe
LONDON. — Lando Norris pointed to Ferrari as a bigger threat than Red Bull after his McLaren team roared to the top of the Formula One constructors’ standings for the first time in more than a decade.
Oscar Piastri’s impressive victory and Norris’ fine fourth place with fastest lap, from 15th on the grid, in Azerbaijan on Sunday catapulted McLaren 20 points clear of faltering champions Red Bull.
Ferrari, who had Carlos Sainz crash out with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez on the penultimate lap while fighting for third, were the second highest scorers with Charles Leclerc runner-up from pole.
The Italian team, whose last constructors’ title was in 2008, are third overall and now only 31 points adrift of the reigning champions.
“Coming into these three races we’ve got now — Monza, here and Singapore — we knew our main contenders would be Ferrari,” said Norris, second overall and now 59 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen with seven races remaining.
“They’ve been our strongest competition lately… between Carlos and Charles, they’ve been two guys who’ve been performing well and putting us under pressure.”
Leclerc won in Monza, after McLaren had locked out the front row of the grid, and then secured pole position in Baku for the fourth year in a row.
Singapore is next up and Sainz won there last year, with Norris second.
“They are performing well and they seem like our closest competition at the minute. So from a constructors’ point of view, we’re probably more worried about Ferrari than we are about Red Bull,” the Briton told Sky Sports television.
McLaren’s return to the top of a championship they last won in 1998 marked another major milestone in an already surprising season.
Red Bull had led the standings for 55 races, dating back to early 2022.
The transformation from the start of the year, let alone 2023 which already seems another age, has been astonishing and sent statisticians thumbing through the record books for comparisons. — Reuters.
Online Reporter