Norris: "I think they have a head start on Saturday"

McLaren and Alpine are tied when it comes to the battle for fourth place among constructors. On Sunday in the United States, drivers Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso met on track and, according to the Briton, it was a fierce battle.

Norris had to work hard on Sunday in Texas for an eventual sixth position. He tells at F1.com that he had to dodge Carlos Sainz on lap one where he lost three positions and midway through the race the safety car also came at an unfortunate time for the McLaren driver.

Norris against Alonso, McLaren against Alpine

"And then coming back through is a lot of fun, tough to get past so many cars, especially the pressure of the chance to get past Fernando with only a few laps to go, I knew I had to time everything perfectly," Norris said. In the end, Norris passed Alonso, giving him and McLaren extra points in the battle for P4 among the constructors.

Norris is happy with the progression McLaren is making but admits Alpine has an edge in some cases. "I think they [Alpine] might be ahead on Saturdays for sure, but today we proved that they weren’t that far ahead," said the 22-year-old driver.

Fight proved unnecessary in hindsight

In the end, Norris' overtaking of Alonso in the closing laps of the race was unnecessary. The Spaniard was penalised hours after the Grand Prix for racing a damaged car after his crash with Lance Stroll. He had 30 seconds added to his time and dipped from P7 back to P15.