Lando Norris is quite happy with his sixth grid position at the Silverstone Formula 1 GP and doesn’t think he can outperform George Russell’s Mercedes for long.
Lando Norris can live very well with sixth place on the grid at Silverstone: “We’re satisfied. We’re even in front of a Mercedes – a car that’s significantly faster than us. And we’re not far off [Lewis] Hamilton,” says the McLaren driver after the thoroughly successful qualifying.
The Briton didn’t necessarily expect things to go so well for McLaren in Great Britain: “We’re in a decent position, which is a bit surprising because we were the only team that didn’t bring any upgrades,” he says. “Many others have great things. Being here is very good for us.”
Norris wasn’t really happy with his last lap: “I made a few mistakes. It wasn’t my best performance, but it was good enough,” he says.
Because the conditions at Silverstone were quite difficult for all drivers. “There are a few corners, if you don’t have the right angle with the right turns and the right speed, then you have aquaplaning,” said the Brit. “If you get a puddle wrong, then a good three, four tenths are gone immediately. That happened to me on the last lap.”
Norris is afraid of taking off
Above all, the fast passage around Maggotts and Becketts was the most difficult because there were some watercourses and larger puddles. Especially puddles in which you can no longer steer are “your worst nightmare”, as he says. “Because if you get them wrong, you can take off real quick.”
In addition, Norris drove tactically and took it easy on his tires at the beginning so that he could push again at the end. “It’s never easy to save everything for the last laps, but I did a good job,” he praises himself, “and I think the team did a good job of giving me the right information. “
The reward is sixth place, which he has to defend in the race. “The question is whether we can keep that up,” he says, expecting at least George Russell to fly by quickly behind him. “I’ll probably just wave George through and make his life a little easier.”
But he expects a good fight against the rest – especially against Fernando Alonso who will start a position behind him. “I think things will be good with Fernando. That will be my main goal tomorrow.”