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Norris reacts to 2023 British Grand Prix podium at Silverstone

Norris can joke after P2 at Silverstone: 'McLaren wanted to give me a test'

9 July 2023 at 16:30
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lando Norris has finished on the podium at the British Grand Prix, continuing McLaren's upward trend in results. The British driver even managed to beat Max Verstappen off the start line and led the race for the first few laps. At the end, he had an intense duel with Lewis Hamilton and held on to P2. 

Norris summarised the emotions straight after the race. "Pretty insane. Thanks to the whole team. I did what I could, I took the fight to Max for as long as possible. It's amazing.  The whole in lap, I was trying to wave to everyone. Piastri should've been P3 without the safety car," Norris said. 

McLaren made Norris work hard

The safety car flipped the race on its head as drivers piled into the pits to change tyres. Whereas the likes of Hamilton and Verstappen opted for soft tyres, McLaren fitted Norris' car with hard tyres. Despite the performance delta in the early laps, Norris defended against the seven-time World Champion in a duel that had shades of Hamilton v Verstappen at Silverstone in 2021. 

Norris confirmed that he wanted to use the soft tyres in the latter part of the race. "They put me on the hard tyres, I don't know why. They're still beginners in some things," Norris joked.

"It was an amazing fight with Lewis to hold him off. They just wanted to give me more of a test, probably Zak [Brown] called the shots on that one! I wanted the softs, I felt like it made a bit more sense. But I don't care."