Lando Norris put on a scintillating display at the 2023 British GP as he finished P2 at his home race. However, the podium did not come easy for Norris as he was constantly under attack from Lewis Hamilton towards the end of the race. After the race, the young McLaren driver revealed that he could not comprehend his team’s tire strategy and even went to the lengths of calling them ‘Beginners.‘
Norris was cruising smoothly in P2 when Kevin Magnussen’s Haas had a failure on track which brought out a virtual safety car. When the VSC was upgraded to a full safety car, the drivers had an opportunity to jump into the pits without losing much time.
Both Norris and Hamilton made full use of the opportunity, however, Hamilton fitted soft tires, while McLaren decided to put Norris on the hards. With considerably much more grip on the softs, it seemed as if Hamilton was going to snatch P2 away from Norris quite easily.
However, due to the fact that McLaren were running a much higher downforce setup than Mercedes, coupled with the insane straight-line speed, Norris somehow managed to fend Hamilton off.
Lando Norris disagrees with the McLaren strategy
Right after the safety car pulled in and the race restarted, Hamilton was quickly on the tail of Norris. Norris had to defend with all his might to keep the seven-time world champion at bay. He kept closing in during the first and the third sector, but was unable to close the gap in the end.
Due to all the heavy pushing at the restart, Hamilton degraded his tires really fast. Norris finally managed to break free of the DRS of Hamilton and his P2 spot was all but assured. Reflecting on the tire choices after the race, Norris said as per Motorsport, “They put me on hard tires. I don’t know why. They’re still beginners in some things.”
However, he also mentioned that he does not care much about it anymore since he finished P2 at the end. “I don’t care. I am P2 so all good,” said Norris.
Norris holds CEO Zak Brown responsible for the tire strategy
Norris delved deeper into his tire strategy and made it clear that, softs were the best choice give the circumstances. He added, “I wanted the softs. I feel like it made a bit more sense, especially with the safety car coming out.”
The 23-year-old jokingly suggested that McLaren intentionally put him on weaker tires to test his skill. He also quipped that McLaren CEO Zak Brown who made the decision to fit his car with the hard-compound tires.
Despite all of these issues, Norris finally did manage to come home in second place, equaling his highest-ever F1 finish. He gave due credit to his team as well as the home fans who turned out in numbers to support their home heroes. Norris now, looks forward to carrying this momentum onto the next outing in Hungary.
