Lando Norris believes McLaren have reasons to be optimistic of again challenging pole-sitting Max Verstappen as they chase what would be a statement second win in succession in Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Verstappen, meanwhile, says that Red Bull have their work cut out to keep a “very strong” McLaren behind them over the 63-lap distance with the world championship leader conceding he is “not at all” as prepared as he would like to be for the race after a difficult series of practice sessions at Imola.

Two weeks after Norris beat Verstappen in a straight fight in the final stages of the Miami GP for the 24-year-old’s maiden win in F1, the pair line up alongside each other on the front row of the Imola grid after a closely-fought qualifying hour.

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri had originally been the McLaren to qualify on the front row but the Australian was handed a three-place grid penalty in the hours after the session for impeding Kevin Magnussen in Q1.

Piastri has dropped to fifth behind the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, whose heavily upgraded SF-24s disappointed in qualifying trim but remain a threat for the race owing to a strong showing in Friday’s race simulations.

On a narrow track where true overtaking places are notoriously limited, Norris knows the prospect of overhaul Verstappen is difficult – but the Englishman is not ruling out being able to do so.

“It’s going to be a race of so few opportunities,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.

“I could be wrong. There’s a lot of gravel, a lot of places to make mistakes.

“So as much as I say that, there could be a lot of VSCs [Virtual Safety Cars] and Safety Cars. That’s where it can get a bit crazy and manic.

“I think just keeping our head down, keeping focused. The start and Turn One, lap one will be our best opportunity because I think the pace after that is strong enough.

“The challenge is to get ahead of Max. If he doesn’t make any mistakes then it’s going to be with strategy, pit stops and starts, so that’s what we have got to focus on.”

Speaking in the post-qualifying press conference, Norris added: “The whole weekend, the car has been performing well and the team have been doing a good job.

“But I don’t expect us just to have like an easy day tomorrow. I think to overtake here is pretty much impossible, like I said. So that’s our first task.

“But at the same time, if we can pressure them and kind of keep on their toes throughout the whole race and have a performance like Miami, then I think we can be optimistic, of course. But just the overtaking and the strategy is probably a bit harder than what was in Miami.”

Verstappen wary of McLaren amid difficult Imola weekend

Although he tied Ayrton Senna’s 35-year-old record for eight consecutive pole positions on Saturday, Verstappen was well aware that Red Bull’s quest for a bounceback victory after Miami is far from completed yet.

Asked how well-prepared he was for the race, the world champion replied: “Not at all.

“[Friday] was terrible, long run and short run. This morning we wanted to do a long run but then we only did like three laps but also then it didn’t feel good. But I also had no balance in the short run, so then it’s quite normal that in the long run it’s not good.

“So naturally, with the balance that I had in qualifying it will be better, but I’ve got no clue against McLaren. They looked very strong yesterday in their long runs, so hopefully we can do something similar.”

Verstappen, chasing a fifth win in seven races this season in a bid to extend his world championship lead, said that Red Bull “for sure” had their work cut out against McLaren.

“All weekend we’ve been on the back foot,” he added.

“We managed to be on top in qualifying, but that’s qualifying. The race can be a bit different. Normally I would like to be a little bit better prepared with a bit more information going into the race, so I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the race.”

Can Ferrari make up for underwhelming qualifying?

Although Carlos Sainz suggested it was the media who were behind the “overhyped” coverage of the big package of changes Ferrari had brought to their car for their home Imola event, the Italian team were still disappointed to miss out on the front row in qualifying having shown strongly up to Q3.

And Norris observed: “Charles is one tenth behind so you can’t even take them out of the whole question here.

“They have been very quick all weekend. Ferrari have probably looked liked the favourites. I think we have been there and obviously improved a little bit more than P3 to qualy than they did.”

Leclerc believes the team’s race pace should be strong, even if he does not think they will be helped much in their bid to move forwards on Sunday by the presence of a shorter DRS overtaking zone at Imola this year.

“The target is always to win,” said the Monegasque.

“As much as it will be a tough one to get on a track like this with reduced DRS, which I don’t really understand this choice, it will make our life more difficult.

“But the race pace is there, we just need a good strategy and then we will see.”

Sky Sports F1’s live Emilia Romagna GP schedule

Sunday May 19
7.30am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Emilia Romagna GP build-up
2pm: The EMILIA ROMAGNA GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Emilia Romagna GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
8pm: Indy 500 Qualifying

Formula 1 heads to Europe as Imola returns to the calendar following last year’s cancelled race. Watch the Emilia Romagna GP this weekend, with Sunday’s race at 2pm. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime