Lando Norris rubs salt in Fernando Alonso’s wounds as Lewis Hamilton warned
Lando Norris has taken aim at Aston Martin for getting “slower and slower” throughout the year after McLaren overtook them in the Constructors’ Championship. An eventful United States Grand Prix eventually saw Norris clinch second to pick up 18 more valuable points for McLaren.
It’s the fourth consecutive weekend where McLaren have managed to finish second, which has transformed their season heading into the final few Grands Prix. But it’s been a different story for Aston Martin over the past few months after a promising start to 2023.
Fernando Alonso was Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez’s closest competition at the beginning of the year as he finished on the podium in six of the first eight races. However, they’ve been unable to finish higher than sixth in the last five race weekends with Lance Stroll struggling in particular.
Aston Martin’s slump down the standings has surprised Norris, who has now set his sights on chasing down Ferrari and Mercedes before the season ends. “It’s our target,” he said about Ferrari’s lead. “I think we’re in a good rhythm.
Click here to join our WhatsApp community to be the first to receive breaking and exclusive F1 news.
“It’s been clear that Aston… I don’t know, they seem to have managed to make the car slower and slower with every upgrade that they’ve bought. They were racing [Red Bull] at the beginning of the year and they were out in Q1 and then they’ve been struggling, so I don’t know what their issues are.”
He added: “When you look at where we are now, to be fighting against a Red Bull, who was an unrealistic target for almost anyone, and fighting against a Mercedes – as much as we are obviously disappointed that we couldn’t go for a race win, when you put it in perspective of where we were and how much we’ve improved, I think it’s still an amazing day for us.”
Don’t miss…
Lewis Hamilton exposed for furious reaction as FIA steward speaks out[LATEST]
Lewis Hamilton title in danger as Felipe Massa releases new defiant statement[LATEST]
Verstappen lodges US GP complaint to take the edge off Hamilton’s bold statement[LATEST]
- Advert-free experience without interruptions.
- Rocket-fast speedy loading pages.
- Exclusive & Unlimited access to all our content.
But Norris accepts that the final four races of the year may not be best suited to the MCL60. He said: “If you look at the GPS and the overlays of how bad we are in the slow speed, I’m not looking forward to Brazil, I think we’re going to be pretty shocking there.
“Maybe Abu Dhabi, you never know. We’ll see. I don’t think there are any good ones for us coming up. I think our best have kind of gone. But I just want to be hopeful that we can do good results. I think we can still fight for podiums. But [Verstappen and Hamilton] were too quick for me. They’ve been, I would say, quicker all weekend on average.
“We just about keep up in qualifying when we have that new rubber and the super-low fuel and things like that, we can look decent. But I think realistically we’re not at the level as a general package with these guys. So not great ones coming up, but you know, Vegas, Abu Dhabi are probably the better ones.”
Source: Read Full Article
