Norris leads home race: 'Heart was racing a bit more than normal'
F1 News
- Sam Godber
Lando Norris was the hero of the British fans during the Grand Prix weekend in Britain. The Briton qualified second on Saturday and immediately took over the lead from Max Verstappen on Sunday, prompting huge cheers. In the end, Norris did not manage to win the Grand Prix, but to be in the lead already earned the McLaren driver a higher heartbeat.
After a somewhat difficult start to the season, McLaren came to the past two races (Austria and Britain) with a host of upgrades for the MCL60. These already came into their own at the Red Bull Ring, where Norris scored McLaren's best result of the season right away with fourth place. At Silverstone things went even better, here Norris even made it to the podium and Oscar Piastri just missed the podium due to some bad luck with the safety car and finished fourth.
Norris is great at Silverstone
Verstappen was on pole for the British GP, but had a poor start, which provided the out-of-the-way opportunity for Norris to grab the lead. To the fans at Silverstone, though, it was clear the McLaren driver had taken the lead. "My heart was racing a bit more than normal. And I was watching the crowd a few times," Norris told of the moment he was in the lead of his home race.
In the end, Norris could not keep the lead, the Briton was soon overtaken by Verstappen in his RB19. "I managed to push on quite a bit the first few laps, which was exactly what we wanted to do. We had a very good pace the first stint. We managed to break away from everyone quite a bit. Managed to go with Max for a little bit. Just not as much as what I would have loved to do. "
McLaren improving quickly
McLaren started the season with perhaps the worst car in the field, but at the last Grand Prix at Silverstone was clearly the second team, behind Red Bull Racing. "The team have done a good job. They've improved the car. The last few weekends have been extremely good. So I'm very happy for them."
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