McLaren had an outstanding race at Silverstone this past weekend as Lando Norris finished second and Oscar Piastri finished fourth. Despite such a fantastic result for the team, Norris has suggested that McLaren’s fans should keep their expectations low. The 23-year-old stated during his press conference that this strong result could easily be a one-off for his side.
And it’s pertinent to note that other than their result at Silverstone, McLaren have had a disastrous season so far. Prior to the British GP, McLaren had just scored 29 points. And now in one race alone they have more than doubled that tally to 59.
This massive rise in their points tally has helped them also move up a place in the Constructors’ Championship, ahead of Alpine. Despite having such a strong result after having brought in new upgrades, Norris fears that it may not happen so consistently.
Lando Norris fears McLaren will struggle in some of the upcoming races
During his press conference after the British Grand Prix, Lando Norris revealed how he fears that McLaren may struggle in some of the upcoming races that have low-speed corners. “We do have a poor car. And when I say poor, I will say pretty terrible in the slow-speed corners,” he explained. Since he believes McLaren has such a poor car in certain aspects, he does not believe it is fair for him to increase the expectations of the fans.
This is because the same fans will question McLaren when they realise that the team has suddenly fallen behind in some of the upcoming races. Norris then concluded his remarks by stating that even though his team have done a remarkable job in improving the car, the Silverstone circuit also helped them to maximise their potential.
He believes that since McLaren are good in the high-speed corners, they were able to even manage their cars better and not fall back on strategy in comparison to their rivals. Even though Norris is calling for caution over his side’s performances, both Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton expressed their surprise in seeing McLaren doing so well.
Verstappen and Hamilton surprised by McLaren’s performance
During the same press conference, Max Verstappen referred to McLaren’s strong performance as a “positive surprise“. He stated that with so many different teams performing well from one race to another, he is excited to see what Hungary has in store.
Similarly, Lewis Hamilton also explained how stunned he was to see the McLaren perform so well. The Briton hailed McLaren for the remarkable improvement they have had and stated that the team deserve it for all the hard work they have put in.
Despite receiving such high praises from his rivals, Lando Norris still believes that the McLaren is not as quick. While Red Bull clearly have a better package than his team, Norris fears that McLaren’s performance is not even as good as that of the Mercedes yet. Hence, with the slow-speed corners of Hungary coming up next, it will be interesting to see how the McLaren performs in comparison to their rivals.
