Lando Norris provided Lewis Hamilton with a reality check after the Mercedes driver once again complained about his side not having the best car on the grid. While the 38-year-old has often complained about the car when things have not gone his way, his complaints at the Hungarian Grand Prix seemed nothing short of surprising. This is because even though Hamilton put the car on pole, he referred to it as “terrible“.
And when it came to his own performance at the Hungaroring, Norris expressed his surprise about McLaren’s pace. He explained how he never thought he would finish on the podium, let alone second once again.
And looking at McLaren’s staggering improvement in recent weeks, Hamilton heaped praise on them. The seven-time world champion praised his former side for the kind of work they have done over the year. He believes that McLaren are now quicker than Mercedes, an argument that Norris explained why he does not understand.
Lando Norris believes McLaren have just done a better job than Mercedes
While speaking at the Hungarian Grand Prix post-race press conference, Lando Norris began by expressing his surprise on finishing second. After stating the same, he explained that it was also surprising for him to see McLaren finish ahead of the Mercedes despite all of Lewis Hamilton’s complaints.
“Mercedes were on pole here last year. And their car has been pretty good. I know Lewis complains a lot about how amazing our car is and how bad theirs is. But they don’t have a bad car and they haven’t all season“, explained Norris.
max: honestly i felt sorry for u in the first few races ☹️
lando: some people are like .. u know like yesterday lewis complained how tough it felt finishing outside 1st position? try racing in 19th and 20th 🤣 pic.twitter.com/8jU1QtJ35z— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) July 23, 2023
And just as the McLaren driver explained the same, Max Verstappen interrupted and seemed to agree with the same. On hearing the same, Norris shared a laugh before adding that while his team have had the same pace as Mercedes, they have just done a better job. And the same was also evident with Norris’ teammate, Oscar Piastri, finishing the race in fifth.
Norris and McLaren will now hope to carry on their form to SPA
Since Lando Norris has repeatedly heaped praise about McLaren‘s outstanding pace in high-speed corners, his side have a huge chance of scoring some good points at the next race in SPA. Considering that the speeds are usually very high in SPA, there is a huge possibility that Norris can perhaps secure a third consecutive podium finish at this event.
And it is not just him, but Oscar Piastri in the other McLaren will also hope to do the same. The Australian has had some outstanding races recently in his rookie season and has been unlucky to not having clinched a podium by now.
max: lando has done extremely well.. but also this is not a surprise to me! its good to see, finally.. when u have a competent car, u can do a good job! and hes here 🥺🧡 pic.twitter.com/KaWyMnZPk6
— nini (@SCUDERIAFEMBOY) July 23, 2023
The 22-year-old came agonizingly close to finishing a potential third at Silverstone before a safety car at the wrong time resulted in him losing out on the pit stops. And even at the Hungaroring, Piastri was running second for a while before he lost out as a result of an undercut by Norris.
With both Piastri and Norris having had some strong races on two different kinds of circuits, it is fair to say that there is a chance that they could now consistently fight for podiums in the rest of the races in the 2023 season.
