'Last-hole Lando' tees himself up for weekend by leaving Ferrari duo in the rough

McLaren - Ferrari

'Last-hole Lando' tees himself up for weekend by leaving Ferrari duo in the rough

Lando scores an early victory over Sainz and Leclerc

Ian Parkes & Sam Hall

Thursday 1 July 2021 20:00

Lando Norris has put himself in a good mood for this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix as the McLaren driver again managed to put one over on his Ferrari rivals - this time on the golf course.

Two days after finishing fifth in the Styrian Grand Prix, with Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc sixth and seventh, Norris took on the Spaniard and Monégasque at a local course near the Red Bull Ring.

After previously earning the nickname of 'last-lap Lando' following his late heroics in last year's Austrian Grand Prix, on this occasion he can now change it to 'last-hole Lando'.

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Reflecting on his downtime over the past few days since the Styrian GP, Norris said: “I played some golf, we had movie nights, a bit of chess every now and then but more importantly the golf.

"We were even through all 18 holes but we did a play-off on the ninth tee and we brought it home and managed to beat them."

Smiling broadly, Norris added: “I can confirm I am better than Carlos at golf and I think I’m happy for the rest of the week.”

Ferrari reacts to Austrian golfing defeat

Speaking ahead of Norris, the two Ferrari drivers conceded the defeat was not an ideal way to begin the weekend.

"I played golf, I played chess," said Leclerc, looking back on his time off. "What else did I do? Most of all, these two things. A little bit of meetings to try and understand a bit more last weekend and that is it.

"I was playing against Carlos. Actually, with chess I was okay. I think I won more games than he did but it is always very, very close.

"But golf has been a big disappointment. It was very difficult to start the week like this. We were playing against Lando and I played with Carlos but we lost. It is like this."

Of his former-McLaren team-mate's success, Sainz added: “Yes, he did [win].

"He is going to be super-happy seeing this and I am going to make his day so if we want to make Lando a happy boy today then let’s say yes.”