Motorsport Week
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Formula 1
    • 2025 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2025 Formula 1 Standings
  • Formula E
    • 2025 Formula E Calendar
    • 2025 Formula E Standings
  • IndyCar
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2025 WRC Standings
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
  • MotoGP
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
  • WEC
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • IMSA
    • 2025 IMSA Calendar
  • World SBK
  • More
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Motorsport Week
Home Single Seater Formula 1

Hamilton: Norris battle exposed Mercedes’ high-speed deficit

by Taylor Powling
2 years ago
A A
0
Hamilton: Norris battle exposed Mercedes’ high-speed deficit

Silverstone on race day is always packed

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Lewis Hamilton believes that his unsuccessful pursuit of McLaren’s Lando Norris in the closing stages of the British Grand Prix exposed Mercedes’ current high-speed performance weakness.

The seven-time World Champion lined up seventh for his home event after a tough outing for Mercedes in qualifying that saw neither of its drivers crack the top five.

However, a fortunately timed Safety Car on Lap 34 enabled Hamilton to leap ahead of both Ferraris, team-mate George Russell and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri into third position.

Hamilton, who scored his 14th podium at Silverstone, explains that running long and hoping for a Safety Car was a strategy his side of the garage had targeted in advance.

RelatedPosts

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL39. 04.07.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Practice Day

Why Lando Norris can’t quantify reason for rediscovery of F1 form in 2025

48 minutes ago
Nico Hulkenberg finally claimed his maiden Formula 1 podium at Silverstone

Why Sauber is convinced upgrade push won’t compromise Audi 2026 F1 prospects

2 hours ago

“I really didn’t expect to be on the podium today,” he admitted.

“But when we go through all the different strategy options, this is the one you hope for, which is the Safety Car.

“I basically put on the Medium tyre in the hope and plan to just stay out on them until the very end, until the Safety Car potentially would come, and fortunately it did.

“So our long run pace is really good and really grateful for the team for continuing to push.

“We do have a lot of work to do on our car to put ourselves in proper competitive form to fight the Red Bulls and now McLarens.”

Despite going onto a set of Soft tyres compared to Norris on Hards ahead, Hamilton was unable to overtake the McLaren once the race resumed.

On one occasion, the Mercedes had appeared to edge in front at Brooklands, but Norris nudged back ahead and defended valiantly into Copse to preserve second.

Hamilton was particularly impressed by McLaren’s strength through the high-speed corners and says Mercedes must strive to improve its own performance in that area.

“I mean, that thing [McLaren] was rapid through the high-speed corners,” he proclaimed. “Wow. I couldn’t keep up, but we had a good little battle on the restart.”

“I threw it up the insight into Turn 7 in the hope that I can finally… this is the moment that I’m going to make it happen and I pressed the overtake button… Did you press the overtake button?

“So we’re both going down the road with the overtake but he had less drag so I guess he said they had a smaller wing and they just started pulling so I had to back out.

“But I was relatively quick in the first half of the lap and I think if you look at our qualifying laps, we were very, very close to Max all the way until… I think it’s until Turn 13 and then that’s where they pull all their time. So we’ve got some work to do to improve our high-speed performance.”

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren and Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes AMG F1. 09.07.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 11, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Race Day.

Silverstone marked the second round in succession McLaren had the edge over Mercedes, with Norris having overtaken Hamilton at the previous race in Austria.

The Woking side has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround since introducing its heavily revised MCL60 at the Red Bull Ring and secured a double top-four finish on Sunday.

When asked if he thought McLaren’s MCL60 was a faster car than the Mercedes W14 during the British GP weekend, Hamilton replied: “Yep. Yes, 100% and last week.

“But this is the first time in a long time and they deserved to have the performance they have, as I said, so we’ve got to do a better job.

“They’ve now done a better job than us and looking forward… What I would say is that this is one of the most exciting times I think we’ve seen in the sport where we’re finally starting to see the regs pull people closer.

“You’ve seen the Williams was up there with Albon. You’ve seen the McLarens now, the Astons so we have a lot of teams getting very, very close: small gaps within qualifying which is exactly what we need.

“So I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of the year evolve.”

Tags: BritishGPF1Lando NorrisLewis HamiltonMcLarenMercedes
Share199Tweet124Share

Related Posts

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL39. 04.07.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Practice Day
Formula 1

Why Lando Norris can’t quantify reason for rediscovery of F1 form in 2025

48 minutes ago
Nico Hulkenberg finally claimed his maiden Formula 1 podium at Silverstone
Formula 1

Why Sauber is convinced upgrade push won’t compromise Audi 2026 F1 prospects

2 hours ago
No driver bias at Ferrari as SF-25 development focuses on pure performance
Formula 1

Ferrari insists 2025 F1 car not built around Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc

3 hours ago
Load More

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Upcoming Races

#EventDate
13Belgian GP25-27 July
14Hungarian GP01-03 August
15Dutch GP29-31 August
16Italian GP05-07 September
17Azerbaijan GP19-21 September

Click here for the full 2025 F1 calendar

Drivers’  Standings

#DriverPts
Oscar Piastri234
Lando Norris226
Max Verstappen165
George Russell147
Charles Leclerc120
Lewis Hamilton103
Andrea Kimi Antonelli63
Alexander Albon44
Nico Hulkenberg37
Isack Hadjar28

Click here for full Drivers’ Standings

Latest Articles

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL39. 04.07.2025. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 12, British Grand Prix, Silverstone, England, Practice Day
Formula 1

Why Lando Norris can’t quantify reason for rediscovery of F1 form in 2025

July 12, 2025
Nico Hulkenberg finally claimed his maiden Formula 1 podium at Silverstone
Formula 1

Why Sauber is convinced upgrade push won’t compromise Audi 2026 F1 prospects

July 12, 2025
No driver bias at Ferrari as SF-25 development focuses on pure performance
Formula 1

Ferrari insists 2025 F1 car not built around Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc

July 12, 2025

Follow Motorsport Week

Join our daily motorsport newsletter

* indicates required

Motorsport Week

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd

Other Links

  • About & Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Motorsport Monday

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • Formula 1
    • Latest News
    • 2025 F1 Calendar
    • 2025 F1 Championship Standings
  • Formula E
    • Latest News
    • 2025 FE Calendar
    • 2025 FE Championship Standings
  • MotoGP
    • Latest News
    • 2025 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2025 MotoGP Standings
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • WRC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WRC Calendar
    • 2025 WRC Standings
  • IndyCar
    • Latest News
    • 2025 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2025 IndyCar Standings
  • WEC
    • Latest News
    • 2025 WEC Calendar
  • Live Updates
  • Other
    • IMSA
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • F1 Academy
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • World Superbikes
  • Galleries
  • About/Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2024 Motorsport Media Services Ltd