In the last few races, McLaren star Lando Norris has been very impressive. In fact, the young Brit has even caught the attention of Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes. At the Austrian Grand Prix, the 21-year-old Hamilton fended off for a while, and although he ended up ahead of Norris, Lewis and Mercedes praised the youngster’s “perfect” driving style on the racetrack.
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Norris proved this wasn’t a flash in the pan as he was only 0.048 seconds from pole position. When the race started it gave Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas a massive headache. And Mercedes track engineer Andrew Shovlin confirmed how fast Lando Norris was.
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He said, “You have to be very tight, you are about a second behind, you have less downforce, the car is sliding around and the tires are getting hotter and you are losing grip. It took Lewis most of that stint and when he got through it you saw that he was able to fill a small gap. “
Lewis Hamilton was all praise for Lando Norris
Hamilton noted that the McLaren star drove fairly flawlessly and didn’t allow him to catch up. According to Shovlin, if a driver is stuck behind a rival, they must either attack or wait for a mistake. This can range from locking the wheel to oversteering when exiting a curve; the subsequent loss of momentum would be enough to topple the car behind it.
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“When you are behind another driver you are really looking for that driver who locks a wheel or gets oversteer when extending, holding you back just enough to actually make the move, but unfortunately for Lewis through this stint. “Lando drove pretty perfectly.”
Formula 1 F1 – Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy – April 18, 2021 Red Bulls Max Verstappen celebrates after taking the first podium with second place, Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and third place, McLaren’s Lando Norris pool over REUTERS / Bryn Lennon
Unfortunately for Hamilton, Norris drove a near-perfect race and found it difficult to overtake. In the end, he and Bottas skipped Norris because of his penalty. However, the young Brit rallied to catch up with them. Eventually, Mercedes was forced to use team orders to sacrifice Hamilton to an attacking Norris and somehow keep Bottas on top.
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