Lando Norris says criticism directed at him and his McLaren team following a series of costly errors at the British Grand Prix was “not unfair”.
Norris was leading at Silverstone before the final round of pit stops but McLaren failed to bring him in at the optimum moment, while he also overran his pit box, allowing Lewis Hamilton to undercut him for the lead.
McLaren also chose to put Norris on soft tyres for the final stint, which left him unable to keep pace with Hamilton and to be overtaken for second by Max Verstappen, who subsequently extended his world championship lead over the Brit.
Asked ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix whether the criticism that has followed has been unfair, Norris told Sky Sports F1: “No, not at all, it just depends on how you take it.
“I don’t think it’s unfair because you’re always going to have it, that’s life. People are going to criticise you, people are going to support you, people are going to make mistakes. We’re not the only team. There have been times when Red Bull should have won and didn’t and Mercedes should have won and didn’t.
“At the same time we didn’t blame anyone but ourselves and it’s a tough one because it hurts when you lose your home race, you have a chance to win and those types of things. But it’s more about how you and we as a team handled it, how we learned from it, we reviewed things, and we come back stronger this weekend and for the future races.
“So plenty of things to learn but I’m confident with our team. I think we always accept criticism. Especially when it’s constructive, you prefer that way, but you are always going to have people who are supporting and not supporting you. How you use that and how you turn it into something positive is the main thing.”
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Listen in to the cool-down room where Lewis Hamilton offers some advice to a despondent Norris about McLaren’s strategy at the British GP
‘McLaren mistakes really not a big thing’
McLaren have built on the progress they made last season to become Red Bull’s most consistent challengers, with Norris second to Verstappen in the drivers’ standings and the Woking-based squad on the brink of overtaking Ferrari for the same position in the Constructors’ Championship.
The team’s progress was highlighted by Norris’ maiden F1 victory in Miami, but he has since missed out on several major opportunities to add to that triumph, with strategic errors playing a part of multiple occasions.
Despite accepting criticism, Norris believes that the extent of McLaren’s issues are potentially being blown out of proportion.
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Max Verstappen overtakes Norris for second as he looks to chase down Hamilton for the race win at Silverstone!
He said: “There are reviews that we do as a team, making sure that we’re asking the right questions, we’re sticking to what we know because it’s easy just to start to invent things and come up with the new best ideas and think, ‘why didn’t we just do one more lap with this and one more lap with that?’ When it’s sometimes just best to stick to the plan and do what we almost know is best.
“It’s really not a big thing.
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Hamilton takes the lead of the British GP, after Norris suffers from a slow pit stop
“After last weekend, it’s not something we’ve had to spend five or six days on, or two weeks, to try and figure it out. Everyone has been very up for trying to work on themselves and figure out what they could have done better, and me figure out what I could have said and done better.
“I don’t think it’s a super-complicated process but when you’re in the moment of leading a race, or you’re second and you have to make these decisions, of course there’s always a lot more stress and pressure on making the right calls.
“But we’ve done so many good things at the same time, so I think reminding ourselves the stuff we’ve done well is important. Of course, the times that we’ve messed it up a little bit more, those are the ones everyone remembers, unfortunately, and attacks the team about it a bit more and things like that.
“So let’s say [doing] simple things, things I think we know and we understand, but implementing that and actually making it a routine and a subconscious thing we can just execute in the race is probably the harder part of it. Stuff I’m confident we can have to be able to improve.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Hungarian GP schedule
Friday July 19
8.50am: F3 Practice
10am: F2 Practice
12pm: Hungarian GP Practice One (session starts at 12.30pm)
2pm: F3 Qualifying
3pm: F2 Qualifying
3.45pm: Hungarian GP Practice Two (session starts at 4pm)
5:15pm: The F1 Show
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Look back at some of the most dramatic moments throughout the years at the Hungarian Grand Prix
Saturday July 20
8:45am: F3 Sprint
11.15am: Hungarian GP Practice Three (session starts at 11.30am)
1.10pm: F2 Sprint
2.15pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying build-up
3pm: Hungarian GP Qualifying
5pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook
Sunday July 21
7:20am: F3 Feature Race
9am: F2 Feature Race
11am: Porsche Supercup
12:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday – Hungarian GP build-up
2pm: The HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX
4pm: Chequered Flag: Hungarian GP reaction
5pm: Ted’s Notebook
Next up for F1 is the Hungarian Grand Prix from Budapest on July 19-21. You can watch every session live on Sky Sports F1. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month Membership – No contract, cancel anytime
