Lando Norris has become Max Verstappen’s toughest competitor in the last two races after McLaren gave the MCL38 an upgrade. Once beating the world champion, Norris has gained immense pace and Max Verstappen had to fight hard to maintain his lead at Imola. The 7-second gap between the two drivers came down to seven-tenths and Norris could have sworn that he needed just one more lap to win the race.

The battle at the front continued for over 15 laps, with things getting heated in the last 10. The McLaren driver was quickly closing in on the defending champion lap after lap, making the lead short enough to get into DRS; unfortunately, with just 1 zone on the track, he was a lap too late. After the race, he took to Instagram to share his frustration, while congratulating his friend Verstappen. On the other hand, the race winner challenged the British driver for round two, but in another sport.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris having a rematch in Tennis

The affairs of the track were concluded with Verstappen taking the win. Norris was not so happy about the result but satisfied with his pace. Ever since the Miami upgrades, Lando Norris has been ‘flying’, according to Verstappen. Imola was a different story with who the race winner was, but Norris’ pace was still one of the fastest. So the post on Instagram put up by Norris was one of him showing, with his facial expression, how he feels.

Lando Norris captioned the post, “Fuuuuusksjsjk! So close!! Almost another one, but very happy with 2nd. Well done @mclaren and congrats @maxverstappen1”. With this, he also highlighted how coming second with such a small gap in between can be frustrating while congratulating his close buddy/rival. Verstappen asked for a round of sports in his comment, saying, “Padel time now @landonorris” with emojis showing that he will win again.

The start of the race might have been uneventful for the most part, but the final battle between Norris and Verstappen made fans and pundits believe that maybe it was the end of Red Bull‘s monopoly of dominance. Norris is big on tennis, considering the number of times he has been spotted at the Monte Carlo Masters in Monaco, and maybe that’s where the next battle between the two might be noticed. Let’s see what exactly did Norris say about needing more laps to beat Verstappen.

Imola GP post-race interview with Lando Norris

“It hurts me to say but one or two more laps and I think I would have had him. It’s tough… a shame,” said the McLaren driver after losing to Verstappen by 0.725 seconds. In the post-race interview, the Briton noted, “I fought hard right until the very last lap, but I just lost out a little bit too much to Max in the beginning. He was much better in the first stint and obviously in the second stint we were stronger”

Norris explained his pace during the race, stating, “It was a tough first half and a much better second half. One or two more laps would have been beautiful, but just not today.” It was a very close race, to say the least, and Verstappen took the victory. But considering the rate at which the Briton driver was catching up, there could have been a different outcome.

That being said, do you think the recent upgrades have put McLaren in the same league of Red Bull? Let us know in the comments below.