Lando Norris said he wouldn’t have finished ahead of Lewis Hamilton if he hadn’t passed the Mercedes at the start of the race – and expected his rival to put up a tougher fight.
The McLaren driver finished second at the Hungaroring after passing the pole-winner on the first lap. Norris went around the outside of Hamilton at turn two and admitted he didn’t expect the Mercedes driver to leave him enough room to get through.Norris also lost a position to his team mate Oscar Piastri at the start after being boxed in behind Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
“I had a decent start,” he said. “I kind of went with Max and Lewis and I couldn’t go to the right, I had a big slipstream, so I came pretty much halfway alongside Lewis.
“Lewis stayed ahead, which was frustrating, but then I managed to stay on the outside [at turn two]. I was a bit surprised, because I would have thought he’d run me a bit wider but he didn’t. So it was close.
“I’m sure he was still trying but it’s very easy to lock up into turn two, so even going into the corner I went back of a couple clicks on brake balance just to attack a little bit more. And it worked out.”
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Getting past Hamilton at that point “saved our race”, Norris admitted. “If I didn’t get past Lewis there, I don’t think I would have overtaken him today because their race pace was very strong. Their general pace was very strong. I just think they didn’t execute a very good race and that overtake made me get a podium.”
Norris believes there’s little to choose between the overall performance of Mercedes and McLaren, though their strengths lie in different areas.
“If you look at [qualifying], the Mercedes was quite a bit quicker with Lewis… I believe that Mercedes are very close, but it’s tight. Like I said, if Lewis stayed ahead in turn two they would have beaten us today and I probably wouldn’t be on the podium at all.”
However Norris admitted McLaren’s performance at the slower Hungaroring exceeded their predictions before the weekend began.
“The expectation was not to be on the podium,” he said. “It’s a lower-speed circuit, there’s no super high-speed. You have turn four and turn 11, which are pretty high-speed, but compared to Silverstone, it’s not like an eighth-gear, flat out, Copse, Stowe kind of corner.
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“So we just lowered the expectation. We didn’t expect to be quite as good. But actually, this Tarmac provides good grip and that’s a good thing for us. A hot day like today made things even harder than they would have been.
“I think on Friday, the long-run pace was very competitive. Today, we struggled more than we would have liked, but we know this is an area for improvement. So I think it’s a positive surprise to be where we are. But we have the same pace as Mercedes, it’s just we’ve done a better job. So I have to thank the whole team for that.”
Beating one of the Red Bulls was an added bonus, he admitted. “Genuinely I don’t think we expected to be here this weekend, especially in P2. Both Red Bulls are way quicker so the expectation to be ahead of them is basically a zero straight away.
“Mercedes were on pole here last year, and their car has been pretty good. I know Lewis complains a lot of how amazing our car is and how bad theirs is, but they don’t have a bad car. And they haven’t all season.”
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2023 Hungarian Grand Prix
- Was F1’s Alternative Tyre Allocation test successful? Drivers and teams have their say
- How far can McLaren climb with car rivals now say is the second-fastest in F1?
- Why Ricciardo says McLaren’s car “speaks Lando’s language” – but Norris disagrees
- Mercedes reveal cooling error behind loss of pace in Hungarian GP
- Perez answered critics in Hungary but needs to qualify better – Horner
BasCB (@bascb)
24th July 2023, 11:14
I like it that Norris really gives quite solid answers that touch the real things that go on and go into their thinking. Most of the time he is quite realistic in his assessments of where they are, be it that he tends to be a tad more pessimistic than most.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
24th July 2023, 11:15
Bring on Spa!
MichaelN
24th July 2023, 12:07
Hamilton did leave Norris a lot of space, but given it was lap 1 he probably didn’t want to compromise his run to the next corner too much. Or maybe he was trying to get a run on Piastri again, who knows.
Still, it’s a nice change from the usual antics of simply driving competitors off.
x303 (@x303)
26th July 2023, 21:06
It’s refreshing. We still saw a drive off the track from Verstappen at T1 though.
isthatglock21
24th July 2023, 12:39
Nah he easily passes Lewis in the first stint, Merc pace was awful for 2/3 of the race bar the end. Even Oscar pulled like 11 seconds on Lewis, more than enough to overtake. McLaren is rapid
Kribana (@krichelle)
24th July 2023, 12:48
He would have gotten Hamilton in the first stint, but 2nd stint and final stint could have been different. Mercedes still with their ultra conservative strategies. If anything, Hamilton has always worked best with an aggressive strategy here.
Edvaldo
24th July 2023, 12:56
Mercedes was faster on the last stint only. Could not keep up on the first, was demolished on the 2nd and much stronger in the last one because mclaren’s was a bit longer.
melanos
24th July 2023, 21:57
Fred said it very clearly a few months ago. I’m pretty sure everybody remembers, ah and also Max said something relevant, if you still can drive it’s not too late to learn
Haas Khan (@haas918)
25th July 2023, 11:44
He isn’t the only one that was surprised to see Hamilton gave up 3 positions right at the start of the race. No wonder the commentator said “No grip, no traction, no drive for Lewis Hamilton”.
TurboBT
26th July 2023, 10:47
Mercedes should have gone with softs