Carlos Sainz has praised his former teammate Lando Norris after the McLaren driver finished on the podium at the Emilia Romagna GP. Norris carried huge pressure going into the 2021 Formula 1 season with Daniel Ricciardo joining the team, but he has been one of the best drivers so far this year following Bahrain and Imola. Having been beaten by Sainz during their two years together at McLaren, Sainz has been impressed by Norris' performances. “It looked like this weekend Lando did a very good job of exploiting the whole car potential,” Sainz told RacingNews365.com and other select members of the press. “He was on it the whole weekend, especially from Saturday onwards and he did a good race.” Sainz also believes McLaren and Ferrari are set for a tight battle this year with very little to separate the teams in terms of ultimate car pace, despite differences in each of the car's best and worst qualities over the course of a lap. “It is very tight,” said Sainz. “Maybe they [Ferrari] had a bit of the upper hand this weekend or they had the upper hand a tiny bit the last two weekends. But as soon as we do a very good weekend and we going to a track that maybe favours us a bit I think we can be ahead. “I think the McLaren has its strengths and weaknesses so that makes it like a really nice fight, is that we are quick in very different places on the track and it makes it a very fun battle.”
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