George Russell says Lando Norris has “at all times been a little bit of a specialist” at circuits with lengthy corners and excessive tyre degradation, so he wasn’t shocked to see the McLaren Formulation 1 driver take back-to-back wins in Hungary and the Netherlands.
Reigning F1 world champion Norris has taken pole and victory at each the Hungaroring and Zandvoort both facet of the summer season break – a improvement coupled up with a big McLaren improve package deal.
Nonetheless, Russell pointed to Norris as a driver who has at all times proven sturdy performances at tracks just like the Hungaroring and Zandvoort, given their comparable traits with lengthy corners and excessive tyre degradation.
“I don’t suppose it’s a serious shock for us, seeing how aggressive Lando was this weekend, contemplating he received in Budapest,” Russell mentioned after ending third within the Dutch Grand Prix.
“It’s a really comparable circuit with the lengthy corners, excessive tyre degradation, with the two-stop technique, so there’s lots of similarities between the 2 circuits. I believe this may occasionally proceed for the approaching two or three races till we begin to carry extra to the automotive, and fingers crossed our opponents don’t.”
Subsequent up is Monza that, whereas it does have a few lengthy corners, is predominantly a circuit characterised by lengthy straights, heavy braking zones and low-speed chicanes.
Lando Norris, McLaren, George Russell, Mercedes
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Whereas F1’s engine battery and power harvesting difficulty is more likely to be uncovered to its biggest restrict at Monza and dominate dialog, Russell expects Mercedes to carry out higher on the Italian observe given the crew’s good exhibiting on the likes of Shanghai, Montreal and Silverstone to this point this yr.
“I believe we will likely be barely extra aggressive there,” Russell mentioned of Monza. “Nonetheless, I consider Ferrari have an engine improve incoming, and the reality is we simply don’t know.
“However I do consider that these high-degradation circuits actually swimsuit McLaren very properly, and particularly Lando. He’s at all times been a little bit of a specialist in these circumstances. We additionally noticed it final yr.
“Monza could also be barely totally different, however I believe they’re the crew to beat proper now.”
Russell’s team-mate Kimi Antonelli is about to serve a back-of-the-grid penalty at his house spherical in Monza for a full Mercedes energy unit change which takes him out of his allocation.
Learn Additionally:
We would like your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Group
