F1 News
Hill turns his criticism towards McLaren and Norris: 'They fumbled it'
Damon Hill has criticised McLaren's performance throughout the year and highlighted how they are still not ready to fight for the Formula 1 Drivers' World Championship. The former Formula 1 World Champion does expect them to reflect on the year during the winter and come back stronger in the 2025 F1 season.
Between the Mexican and the United States Grand Prix, Max Verstappen felt the full force of Hill's criticism, which flowed into the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend. Verstappen was under fire from Hill for his driving style. The Dutchman responded in the press conference and then completed one of the most impressive wet drives in recent F1 history. He started from 17th on the grid and won the race in challenging conditions. In the end, Hill admitted the critics had been silenced.
Hill turns his attention to McLaren and Norris
With Norris starting on pole position, it looked like the British driver had a good chance of taking a huge chunk out of Verstappen's lead, but he dropped back to sixth place. He made a few errors on track, while McLaren lost out with a badly-timed pitstop. Hill summarised McLaren's situation.
"They're not race toughened yet. They're not championship toughened. They're not bulletproof. That's what you need to be. There are little moments like this where he just scooted off on the wrong side. There are other moments in the season where they've fumbled it," Hill said on Sky Sports before expecting McLaren to bounce back in 2025.
"They'll go and think about it long and hard and come back a lot tougher. To win a championship, you can't afford to make any mistakes. The competition is too hot, too relentless," Hill concluded. Hill's Sky Sports colleague Martin Brundle also suggested Norris lacks the killer instinct.
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