LANDO NORRIS REVIEWS THE 2020 BRITISH GP

(08/2020)

Ever the 'full-time streamer, part-time racing driver', Lando Norris jumped on stream a few hours after the race to discuss the highlights.

What became immediately clear from the start of the stream is that McLaren still consider Ferrari a top team. Echoing his comments from a few weeks ago, when he told the media that "Ferrari...are really quick in the corners. But they are really slow on the straights" , he insisted that the Italian team should not be written off. Whilst watching the first few laps, he mentioned that Leclerc's Ferrari appeared faster than Verstappen's Red Bull around Sector 1. He stated, "no one can fall off that quickly", reiterating that people are underestimating the team's pace, who have suffered an embarrassing start to this season.

Whilst he was quick to defend Ferrari's pace, he was much more hesitant in attempting to explain the pace difference between Leclerc and Vettel: the Monegasque driver had a very solid weekend and finished 3rd, whilst the German was with mechanical problems, both qualifying and finishing only 10th. He told his audience that, because there are so many factors that affect a driver's performance, it was impossible to speculate why Vettel's performance was so disappointing.

However, he was also certain that no one could catch Mercedes this year - probably a much less controversial opinion. The W11 is, indeed, untouchable, as we've seen from the first four races, and it's dominance and pace was especially seen after Hamilton managed to retain his lead and win the British GP despite a puncture. The McLaren driver joked, "when you do half a lap with a puncture and finish first...you know you're in a good car." He also echoed the general opinion that only Racing Point and Red Bull could come close to Mercedes this season.

Talking of Racing Point, Norris expressed his sympathy for Nico Hulkenburg, who failed to make the grid after a whirlwind weekend, and questioned why the Racing Point's (at times blistering) pace was so inconsistent. According to him, Stroll's lap in qualifying was "awful", and yet half a second quicker than his, so he was confused as to why Lance Stroll, Racing Point's only driver in the race, could only manage 9th place. Indeed, the team's pace between Saturday and Sunday was miles apart.

Of course, he had to mention the tyres. The punctures suffered by multiple drivers, most significantly both Mercedes in the last three laps were the major talking point post-race, and many have speculated that Red Bull could've won because of it. This is because they wasted time pitting Verstappen, when they could've been attempting to catch Hamilton, considering his tyre also failed shortly after. The McLaren driver, though, was adamant that it was not their race to lose, and that as they couldn't have predicted that Hamilton would suffer a tyre failure.

Alongside sharing some perhaps controversial opinions on the race, Norris (between googling 'goat yoga' and watching a McLaren engineer's stream) complimented the pace of Renault and Williams and said that like most drivers, he suffered with tyres throughout. In regards to his own team, Norris confirmed Ted Kravitz's comments on his hard work: "I'm usually the last one to leave the grid in the evening". There was, however, a distinct lack of confidence in his car's ability, and was hesitant to look forward to podiums in the coming seasons.

Clearly, then, Norris still feels he has a long way to go. What he doesn't need to work on, though, is his relationship with his fans - his commitment to providing content certainly improves his popularity. But it's interesting for all of us, whether he's our favourite driver or not, to see races from a different perspective, especially if that perspective is right inside the car itself.