Resurgent Lando Norris puts Mercedes on red alert ahead of British Grand Prix

Henry Valantine 05年7月2023年8:00 PM

Lando Norris, McLaren, looking upwards. Baku, April 2023.

Lando Norris says McLaren have “good potential” to fight to make him “top Brit” at Silverstone and trump the Mercedes drivers this weekend.

Norris beat both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the heavily-upgraded MCL60 at Austria at the weekend, with more upgrades set to arrive on his car at his home race this weekend at the British Grand Prix.

Mercedes confirmed they will be bringing new parts of their own to Silverstone, but after he and McLaren were on resurgent form in Austria, Norris was hopeful of putting up a challenge against his compatriots once again at their home race.

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Lando Norris: Being top Brit at Silverstone would be ‘pretty cool’

诺里斯是通过汉密尔顿开始的时候Austrian Grand Prix but the McLaren driver was able to keep in touch as the race progressed, and overtook the seven-time World Champion on track at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday on his way to a P5 finish on the road, which became fourth when Carlos Sainz received a post-race time penalty.

The McLaren driver said he did not want to run away with himself when making predictions for how the British Grand Prix might go this time around for himself and his team, but when asked if he could come out on top among the home drivers this Sunday, he believes Silverstone should play to some of McLaren’s strenghts.

“It’s tough. I just suppose it’s us versus Mercedes, isn’t it? I mean, both the Brits are there,” Norris explained to media including PlanetF1.com when asked if he could take the ‘top Brit’ mantle at Silverstone this weekend.

“所以I think we definitely had the upper hand over them this weekend [in Austria]. I would say every other weekend of the year that they’ve been ahead, this is the first time we’ve been ahead of them.

“所以I don’t want to just be convinced to say all of a sudden, ‘oh, we’re ahead of Mercedes’ – I don’t think that’s the right thing to say.

PlanetF1.com建议

Revealed: The contract status of every single race on the F1 2023 calendar

First look at Brad Pitt’s Silverstone garage as filming for Lewis Hamilton-linked film begins

“As we’ve said before, and we said all weekend, Austria has always been our best race of the season, the most competitive, most successful.

“所以I think we know that at the same time, but we did take a step forward. Silverstone is full of high-speed corners, which have been a big strength of ours, maybe not so much straight-line braking, which is another strength of ours, but a good mixture, and there’s further upgrades and things to come.

“I would say there’s good potential. I can’t say if I’m convinced or not convinced or confident or not confident, but good potential for us to compete against them again.

“And for me to be the top Brit, I think that would be a pretty cool thing to do in Silverstone.”