Lando Norris may be regretting his comments after Lewis Hamilton’s stunning victory at the British Grand Prix.
Despite partner George Russell’s retirement and Mercedes’ ongoing battle with a less competitive car, Hamilton clinched his first win since 2021 in spectacular fashion at Silverstone on Sunday. The seven-time world champion only recently bagged his first podium finish of 2024 but celebrated a new season high after crossing the line first in his home Grand Prix.
The win throws shade on the idea that F1 success is purely down to the cars and who has the best tech at any given time. The Silver Arrows’ product has been lagging behind Red Bull and Ferrari since the beginning of the 2022 season, and now Norris’ own McLaren squad is counted among those top-tier innovators.
However, the British driver has only managed a single victory during what has been an otherwise standout season for the Woking-based team. With McLaren believed to have one of, if not the fastest car out there, it brings Norris’ past remarks into the spotlight, as reported by the Daily Express.
Following Hamilton’s triumph at the 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix, Norris – who was in only his second F1 season – said there was an expectation for Mercedes’ star to “win every race” due to their superior engineering. At that time, Hamilton was chasing his fourth consecutive F1 world title (and seventh total), but it wasn’t without significant effort on his part.
“It doesn’t mean anything to me, really,” said Norris in Portugal. “He’s in a car which should win every race, basically. He has to beat one or two other drivers, that’s it. Fair play to him, he’s still doing the job he has to do.”
Hamilton’s British GP win was his first since 2021 (
Image:
Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
Fast forward to today and the hierarchy has changed, with McLaren overtaking Mercedes in terms of who has the best design – though Toto Wolff’s team seem to have made huge strides in recent weeks. Both Norris and teammate Oscar Piastri have consistently outperformed their Silver Arrow counterparts, though Mercedes now boast more wins this season (two to one) following the British GP.
Even Norris, 24, has acknowledged McLaren’s engineering prowess after praising their car as the fastest in the sport at the Spanish Grand Prix last month. He finished as runner-up behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen while partner Piastri placed fifth, leaving no room for excuses.
“I think we’re the quickest car but I just lost it at the start and then I couldn’t get past George for the first stint,” Norris said after the result in Catalonia. “So I think we quite easily had the best car out there today, I just didn’t do a good enough job off the line and that one thing cost me everything. So from turn two onwards, 10 out of 10 I didn’t think I could have done much more.”
His first F1 victory at the Miami Grand Prix in May remains his only career win to date, with four podium finishes from six attempts since then. However, he’s discovered having the best car doesn’t always guarantee first place in F1.
Hamilton had a moment to remember after his first win in almost three years (
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(Image: Getty))
Norris may not have imagined himself driving the best car while not being part of one of F1’s ‘Big Three’. Regardless of his reasoning, it seems his past views have come back to haunt him as he now has little justification for not dominating the field as he once suggested Hamilton should.
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