Even after the infamous collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton two years back, Zak Brown fully trusted the Mercedes driver as he went wheel-to-wheel against Lando Norris at Silverstone. Brown believed Hamilton would not be in a similar situation with Norris around the Copse corner as he was with Verstappen in 2021.
FIA brought out the safety car after Kevin Magnussen pulled out on the track due to reliability issues. As the race went underway again, the seven-time world champion came right at the back of Norris’ McLaren once the safety car pulled away.
Hamilton took advantage of the safety car to pit and was within striking distance of his younger compatriot in a faster tire. With this, both of them pushed to the maximum and had everyone remember the 2021 Copse incident, but Brown was surely not among them.
Despite a similar situation, Brown trusted Hamilton
Even though Norris and Hamilton were in a similar position where they tussled for positions, the McLaren boss knew the young Briton had a “sensible” driver behind Norris who wouldn’t do anything silly to take both of them out.
Talking about this, the McLaren CEO revealed as per deni on Twitter, “The nice thing is you know Lewis is gonna fight you hard but he’s gonna fight you fair. At least you feel like you have a driver around you that’s gonna be sensible.”
What. A. Battle!! ⚔️#BritishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ulH1s2XP9N
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 9, 2023
However, the Mercedes star barely managed to keep himself behind McLaren. Throughout the race and even after that, the Silver Arrows ace complimented the Papayas, a team Lewis Hamilton always adores. He said on the radio, “This McLaren is a rocket! It’s unbelievable how it goes off in the fast corners.”
McLaren cut short Red Bull’s domination
While Mercedes, Aston Martin, and Ferrari have been finding it hard to trim the Red Bull advantage, the McLaren duo proved them wrong with their mighty performances. With P2 and P3 in the qualification and P2 and P4 in the main race, along with multiple wheel-to-wheel battles, the RB-19 did not look very dominant as it looked so far.
Apart from the $150,000 upgraded floor from last race weekend, the Woking-based team has brought in an upgraded front wing, nose, rear corner, and rear suspension, as per Formularacers.
As things stand, this McLaren upward trajectory seems to continue in the upcoming races until summer break. It’ll be interesting to see what Mercedes, Ferrari, or Aston Martin has in store to tackle the Papayas.
