Lando Norris suggests that his basketball themed helmet would suit George Russell more due to Mercedes’ porposing issues.
Porpoising is a term that F1 fans in 2022 have become familiar with. We first saw it during pre-season, when the cars seemed to be bouncing up and down when going flat out on the straights.
It has hampered the performance and straight line speed of many, but Mercedes have suffered from it the most. It has drastically brought their pace down, which puts them behind Ferrari and Red Bull in the pecking order.
McLaren on the other hand were struggling with other problems. Porposing didn’t really affect them, but their car just seemed off pace towards the start of the season. Over the last couple of rounds however, they’ve picked up strongly and topped their progress off with a Norris P3 finish in Imola.
PREGAME ⛹️♂️ pic.twitter.com/JNXCRbvp7f
— Lando Norris (@LandoNorris) May 6, 2022
Ahead of this weekend’s Miami GP, the McLaren driver revealed a new helmet that he’ll use for the race. It is a basketball themed helmet, which is unique and stands out from what others are using. Norris however, had an interesting comment to make on the same.
Lando Norris takes a cheeky dig at George Russell
During an interview leading up to the Grand Prix weekend, Norris gave his take on the helmet. He suggested that Russell would find it more useful since his W13 is prone to a lot of bouncing.
.@LandoNorris about his new helmet design 🏀
“Its a basketball. It would have suited George as they seem to bounce more”
Savage 😂 pic.twitter.com/E1DDqUXCh2
— WTF1 (@wtf1official) May 6, 2022
It was a hilarious response, something was surely meant as a joke. However, Mercedes will be hoping to get rid of their porposing problems as soon as possible. Had it not been for Red Bull’s reliability woes in the opening rounds, they would have been further behind in the standings.
Norris is sixth in the Championship standings with 35 points to his name. Russell on the other hand is fourth with 49 points. Russell’s teammate and seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton is really struggling to get up to speed with his W13, as the 37-year old currently sits seventh.