McLaren CEO's Spat: Norris Calls Red Bull Rivals

Norris stresses Red Bull as competitors, not adversaries, despite McLaren CEO’s harsh comments.

Lando Norris is eager to race at the Hungaroring this weekend. The McLaren F1 driver is confident that his team can excel on this twisty track and is hoping for a strong overall result, with points to follow.

“I’ve always liked this circuit, good weather, and it’s a good track, a real challenge. I’ve always performed well here so I’m excited to see what we can do; the car is good, the team is doing good work, and we’ll have a chance to score a lot of points,” stated Norris, who acknowledges that recent mistakes are helping the team progress.

“We’ve learned a lot, we always learn more in situations where we don’t win. I’m glad we’re experiencing them now and learning from them, rather than later. It’s tough, and people talk about it because we’re playing to win, not like the previous five years.”

“It hurts more when you lose, but you’re fighting against the best, and you pay the price when you mess up. But I’m happy with how the team is working, and people forget that we’ve been the most consistent team for the past two months. That should be making headlines, not the rest.”

Asked about CEO Zak Brown’s comments regarding Red Bull, Norris insists they are not enemies: “No, we are competitors. We compete with all the teams. But it’s give and take. When other teams give, you sometimes have to give back. I think both sides need to be considered.”

“It’s only Max scoring” for Red Bull

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri thinks McLaren should capitalize on its strong performances, and also on the fact that Sergio Pérez is having a tough time, leaving Max Verstappen to score the points for Red Bull: “I think we have confidence in our team, our drivers, our car, everyone around us.”

“We’ve scored the most points of any team over the last six races, and we are gaining ground on everyone around us. It’s clear that the gap to Ferrari in the constructors’ championship is now very small and we are closing it at the expense of Red Bull.”

“Of course, for now, it’s only Max scoring most of the points, so we can’t take it for granted that it will always be this way, and we must always maximize what we can do to score the most points for both cars. But we are confident we are in the fight.”

“I think it would be incredibly pessimistic not to be optimistic about our chances later in the year. We know it won’t be easy, of course, and things can change very quickly, but we are making the right choices right now and progressing well, so we are definitely in the fight.”