In an ever-changing F1 2023 grid, there has been just one constant and that is the domination of Red Bull. Behind the Milton Keynes outfit, the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, Aston Martin and now even McLaren have been jostling for establishing themselves as the second-best team on the grid. At the start of the season, it was Aston Martin that was fighting for the podiums. Soon after, Ferrari and Mercedes joined in the fight. And now most recently, it has been McLaren that seems to be the closest challenger to Red Bull. Considering the staggering improvement that the Woking-based outfit has made from the start of this season, Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has made a bold claim. However, McLaren’s Lando Norris seems shocked by the 38-year-old’s comments.
Norris expressed his amazement after Hamilton claimed that McLaren have improved their pace by a second. Looking at McLaren’s staggering improvement, the Mercedes driver now wants his current team to take a leaf out of his former side (as quoted by The Race). However, Norris does not seem to agree with Hamilton’s assessment of McLaren’s improvement.
Lando Norris explains why Lewis Hamilton is wrong
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Lando Norris hit back at Lewis Hamilton for claiming that McLaren had improved their pace by a second. “We’ve improved the car a good three, four-tenths (of a second),” explained the 23-year-old. “Lewis told me one second. I’m like, ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ They have enough data to know it’s not one second’s worth“.
Norris then went on to add that it is only Red Bull that is currently in a league of their own. The 23-year-old believes that all other teams have been inconsistent and that their performances have varied drastically from one track to another.
In order to explain his point, Norris gave the example of Ferrari. He explained how the Prancing Horse had a disastrous weekend at Silverstone despite putting in a strong performance the weekend before that.
However, despite Norris repeatedly stating that McLaren can still no longer be classified as the second-fastest team on the grid, Hamilton does not seem to agree. The 38-year-old has urged his team to follow the direction of the Woking-based outfit, and now it seems that Mercedes are doing just that.
Mercedes finally seem to be following McLaren’s footsteps
After repeated requests from Lewis Hamilton to follow McLaren’s direction, Mercedes seems to have finally taken that path. While speaking in a British Grand Prix debrief (as quoted by reuters.com), Mercedes technical director James Allison said, “We keep an eye on all the teams as they upgrade“.
After stating the same, Allison praised McLaren by adding, “The interesting and unusual thing about the McLaren upgrade is that its lap time effect is quite strong. It’s unusual to have a step of that size of relative competitiveness in the middle of a season and chapeau to them“.
Allison stated that Mercedes is keen to keep bringing upgrades for the rest of the season. However, he did caution the fans that there is still uncertainty about where the team may land in the second half of the 2023 season.
