Lando Norris’ Comments to Lewis Hamilton After Hungary GP Criticised

Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton had a rather awkward exchange in the cooldown room before the podium at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday, with the former coming under heavy scrutiny from Formula 1 fans for his comments to his fellow Brit.

Hamilton finished in third place, achieving his 200th career podium in the process, but this history-making achievement was overshadowed by the bizarre, drama-filled race, which continued into the cooldown room.

The Drama of the Hungary Grand Prix

A tense end to the race had everyone unsure if Norris would follow team orders and swap positions. After a series of persuasive, but embarrassing radio messages, McLaren convinced Norris to switch with his teammate Oscar Piastri. The Brit eventually played the team game, but wasn’t happy about it. This led to a tense conversation between him and Hamilton in the cooldown room.

When Norris entered the room, Hamilton complimented the McLaren driver with: “Wow, you guys are fast!”

This is a comment we have heard many times over the years, but Norris took it the completely wrong way. Clearly still angered by the race result and his team’s decisions, Norris was quick to respond with: “You had a fast car seven years ago.”

Hamilton replied: “Seven years ago? Long time. Were you here seven years ago?”

Norris, who is now in his sixth season in F1 after arriving on the scene in 2019, responded: “Yeah, well, you had a quick car, you made the most of it, and now it’s us.”

The Mercedes driver looked somewhat confused by the confrontational response that Norris gave him, adding: “I wasn’t complaining, I was just complimenting your car.”

Thankfully, the two were finally joined by race winner Oscar Piastri before Norris could taint his image any further. The three drivers then analysed the key moments of Sunday’s drama-filled race at the Hungaroring.

Lando Norris Unhappy With Hungary GP Result

Lando Norris has understandably lost his head in the unfair position McLaren placed him in during the Hungarian Grand Prix. Piastri led every lap after overtaking his McLaren teammate at turn one at the start of the race. After a lacklustre first half, things heated up as we got closer to the chequered flag.

Pitstop drama saw Norris take the lead after McLaren pitted him ahead of his teammate Piastri to fend off a chasing Hamilton. As the Hungaroring circuit heavily favours the undercut, Norris emerged ahead of his teammate once both drivers had pitted. Successfully undercutting Piastri, Norris drove off into a sunset of clean air.

A stressed McLaren pit wall gave Norris several team orders to allow the Australian driver to pass. Three laps from the chequered flag, Norris slowed on the main straight and allowed the papaya cars to swap positions.

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Securing the top two steps on the podium is a great achievement, but leave it to McLaren to produce the most underwhelming 1-2 in recent F1 history. The strategic call to pit Norris first opened up an unnecessary can of worms. Norris clearly had more pace than Piastri during the final stint of the race, but McLaren gifting him an undeserved lead tarnished this period of the race. If McLaren had followed suit and pitted their leading driver first, Piastri would have maintained his lead over Norris during the closing stages. Furthermore, if Norris then had more pace and caught up to his teammate, it would be a fair fight for the Grand Prix victory.

Speaking after the race, Norris agreed: “Simply, the team should have just boxed Oscar first, and we wouldn’t even be having this discussion… I think just as a team, maybe we could have done things slightly differently, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it.”

Another incorrect strategy call resulted in an awkward 1-2 victory for McLaren.