Norris Wary of Tight Margins After Leading Monza FP2

Lando Norris topped Friday's second practice session at the Italian Grand Prix, but the McLaren driver concluded his day feeling uneasy about the razor-thin margins separating him from his closest rivals.

Why it matters:

McLaren's dominant form at the high-downforce Zandvoort circuit last weekend might not translate to low-downforce Monza, opening the door for competitors to close the gap significantly. This sets the stage for a fiercely competitive weekend.

The details:

• Norris clocked a lap time of 1m 19.878s, narrowly edging out Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz by less than a tenth of a second.
• Teammate Oscar Piastri was close behind in fourth, underscoring the tight competition.
• Reflecting on his performance, Norris expressed a desire for a more comfortable advantage: "Normally by this point we have like a one-second gap on everyone! But at the moment it looks just a bit close for my liking."
• Norris admitted his MCL39 felt trickier in Monza’s low-downforce conditions compared to Zandvoort, where it performed "pretty amazing."
• He noted, "We don’t perform quite to the same level in these kind of low downforce conditions as we do when we’re at a high downforce. The competitors catch up, it looks a bit closer and it makes our life a bit trickier."

What's next:

With Ferrari pushing hard in front of the Tifosi, and Mercedes and Red Bull yet to deliver their full potential, Saturday’s qualifying at Monza promises to be extremely competitive. Norris is already eyeing the small improvements needed to keep McLaren ahead of the pack.