Mercedes praise for "perfect" Lando Norris

Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton in Austria — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

Mercedes praise for "perfect" Norris

Norris held up both Mercedes drivers during the opening half of the Austrian Grand Prix

Ewan Gale

Sunday 11 July 2021 08:00

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Mercedes has commended Lando Norris' "perfect" driving which made life difficult for the world champions at the Austrian Grand Prix.

McLaren driver Norris went within 0.048secs of qualifying on pole at the Red Bull Ring before holding off both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for most of the opening stint of the race.

Hamilton was heard praising his compatriot as he made his way past into turn three and asked why his driver had struggled to make his way past the McLaren, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin explained: "Well, fundamentally it’s because Lando was quite quick and we didn’t have a very big performance advantage.

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"Also, you have got to sit very close, you are around one second behind, you have less downforce, the car is sliding around and the tyres get hotter and you lose grip.

"So it took Lewis most of that stint and once he did get by, you saw that he was able to pull a bit of a gap.

"He also commented about how Lando was driving so well what he meant there was simply that Lando wasn’t making any mistakes.

"When they are behind another driver, what they are really looking for is that driver to lock a wheel or get a snap of oversteer on exit that just holds them back enough so that they can actually make the move but unfortunately for Lewis through that stint Lando drove pretty much perfectly.”

Mercedes looking forward to Silverstone

Mercedes lost further ground to rivals Red Bull as Max Verstappen dominated over the two weekends in Austria.

With Silverstone next on the calendar, Shovlin is hoping the team can bounce back and stay within touching distance at the top of the constructors' standings.

"It’s fair to say that Austria is a track that over the years, we have struggled at," he added.

"It’s a difficult circuit and one that doesn’t seem to suit our car and we are trying to understand those issues.

"Silverstone on the contrary though is one that we have tended to go very well at and also Lewis really enjoys that circuit. Some of it is the layout and the high-speed nature but also the fantastic support he has there from the home crowd.

"So, we are looking forward to it, it’s still going to be a challenging race weekend. We’ve got the sprint format to contend with, but hopefully, we can put on a better showing and take that fight to Red Bull.”