Lewis Hamilton surprised everyone by taking pole on Saturday. This was his first pole after Saudi Arabia 2021, where he converted that pole into a win. But nothing of that sort occurred in this Sunday’s Hungarian GP. On the other hand, McLaren’s performance was exceptional during the whole weekend, even though they predicted otherwise.
Lando Norris said in a conference after Silverstone that Hungary is a tough track to race on for the team. And asked the fans to lower their expectations, as he doesn’t think the performance at Silverstone will be repeated. Contrastingly, McLaren had an amazing weekend, with both cars taking essential points and Lando finishing in P2, overtaking Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren’s Lando Norris throws a dig at Hamilton
Before the race, Lewis spoke about the start on Sunday being challenging due to the drivers going head-to-head for the victory in the front of the field. Later after the race, McLaren driver Lando slammed these comments made by the 7-time world champion and gave his perspective on Mercedes’s performance.
Lando said, “Yesterday [after Qualifying], Lewis complained of how tough it was finishing outside first position.” acknowledging Lewis comments after the race. He further added that Lewis should try racing in P19 or P20 to understand the pecking order in the sport. The brit said “Try racing in 19th and 20th, he’s never done that in his life. So that’s the only thing that Lewis hasn’t done in Formula 1.”
He also went on to emphasise that Mercedes-Benz doesn’t have a bad car. He justified it by saying if the car had been as bad as Lewis had claimed in the past, it wouldn’t have qualified for pole. Lando also revealed that it was the late response time at the start and the mistake in turn 1 made by Lewis that enabled him to take P2, not the car being better. Lando has been very vocal about Lewis complaining, as he thinks Hamilton needs to understand the sport by racing at the back of the grid before complaining about the car.
Lewis Hamilton fails to beat Verstappen despite pole position
The pole at the Hungarian Grand Prix was Lewis’s 104th pole in the sport. The pole came to the end of his drought-like situation since 2021. Lewis had a terrible start, allowing drivers like Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, and Oscar Piastri to pass him. Lewis later caught on to McLaren driver Oscar Piastri but could not reach his teammate. Lewis’ performance was very mid-range in the whole race, resulting in Sergio Perez overtaking him for third place in the end.
The Red Bull turned the race around and scored two podiums. Making Hamilton pay the price for the poor start did the Nico curse have a role to play in the finish? Let us know your views in the comments.
