Lando Norris has admitted that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a 'long race' for himself after missing out on glory to Max Verstappen.
Verstappen boosted his chances of title glory with a superb performance at Imola, with Oscar Piastri forced to settle for third.
Norris, speaking to Sky Sports after the race, said he was pleased with McLaren's performance - while also confessing that Red Bull were 'too good' on the day.
He said: "It was a long race. Not easy to overtake, but we did what we could. Max drove a good race and we couldn't keep up.
Lando Norris has admitted that the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a 'long race' for himself after missing out on glory to Max Verstappen
SKY
"We had a good little battle at the end between Oscar and myself which was tense, but always good fun.
"A good race. For us as a team, second and third is great. Of course you would love to be up there fighting against Max but they were too good for us today."
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Piastri received no team orders during the race.
Norris, responding to that decision, said: "I was on better tyres, but I didn't expect anything.
"It was still a tough fight. It was close into turn one. It's the way it should be, of course.
"I lose time through that, and then he loses time, but it's what we have to do in order to battle for a championship.
Lando Norris could only finish second at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
REUTERS
"If you try and make someone happy, the other one's going to be unhappy, so it's the way it is.
"I think we handled it well, and it was a good job by the team."
Verstappen, meanwhile, was proud - with the 27-year-old now putting himself back in the mix to win the Drivers Championship following his exploits in Italy.
"The start itself wasn't particularly great but I was still on the outside line, the normal line, so I was like 'well I'm going to try and send it around the outside' and it worked really well," said the race winner.
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"Of course, that unleashed our pace because when we were in the lead, the car was good. I could look after my tyres.
"Massive improvement from Friday and I'm very pleased with that.
"The VSC was quite handy to pit. Even then, on the hard compound our pace was strong but then there was a Safety Car, so the field was back together.
"But on the restart we managed it all pretty well and brought it home.
Lando Norris was no match for Max Verstappen at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
REUTERS
"Incredibly proud of everyone. It's been a very important week for us. The car has performed really well.
"Also, I think the execution of the whole race - when to pit and the pit stops themselves were all very good."
