On the first day in Barcelona, Norris topped the speed charts while Mercedes seemed to have a little trouble getting to their best.
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Light banter is always a great thing to see in any sport, and Formula One is no exception. On Monday, McLaren driver Lando Norris reacted to Mercedes driver George Russell’s comments about McLaren being ahead of Mercedes. The three-day pre-season shakedown at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw teams and drivers get a feel of their respective challengers on the track, only a few weeks before the first race of the season in Bahrain. On the first day in Barcelona, Norris topped the speed charts while Mercedes seemed to have a little trouble getting to their best.
Mercedes had a difficult second day, with Lewis Hamilton’s running cut short by a sensor issue, before Russell had a better day, touring the Circuit de Catalunya 66 times and finishing fourth, behind McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, as well as Leclerc. This prompted the 24-year-old to suggest that the Woking and Maranello squads have the upper hand as the new season approaches. It was then that Russell said that McLaren were ahead of Mercedes, something Norris has come out to contradict.
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“Some teams, a red team and an orange team in particular, look very, very competitive,” Russell told Sky F1. Mercedes and Red Bull, on the other hand, would show a clearer indication of their speed by securing the top four positions on the final day, with Hamilton leading Russell for a Mercedes 1-2 on Friday. As a result, Norris believes Mercedes is stronger and that Mercedes and Red Bull, who were unquestionably the two fastest teams last year, remain on top.
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“George obviously topped the timesheets [on Friday morning] so if he thinks we’re strong, we’re going to think he’s strong,” Norris said to reporters.
“I think if there’s any team on the grid right now that you expect to be at the front when it matters it’s going to be Mercedes and probably Red Bull. “I don’t think we’re in an amazing place. I think we’re in a good place. We had a car which as soon as we put it on the track worked well,” he added.
