McLaren driver Lando Norris was surprised after Sergio Perez was voted as the Driver of the Day for his P3 finish at the 2023 Hungarian GP.
The Briton finished P2 for the second race running for the first time in his career. He displayed some incredible pace at the Hungaroring to hold off challenges from Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton late in the race.
While speaking with Sky Sports, Lando Norris was perplexed to discover that the Mexican was awarded the Driver of the Day despite finishing behind him. He said:
"He got driver of the day, what the hell?"
Norris also claimed that passing Lewis Hamilton at the start was key for his P2 finish and said:
"Lewis stayed ahead (at the first corner), which was frustrating. But then I managed to stay on the outside. I was a bit surprised, I would have thought he'd run me a bit wider but he didn't. It was close, I'm sure he was still trying but it's very easy to lock up into Turn 2."
He added:
"And it worked out so I think that saved our race today. If I didn't get past Lewis there, I don't think I would have overtaken him today because their race pace was very strong. Their general pace was very strong, I just think they didn't execute a very good race, and that overtake made me get a podium."
Lando Norris comments on whether McLaren is the second fastest behind Red Bull now
After bringing in the upgrades, Lando Norris has not finished below P4 in the last three races. However, he stated that it was difficult to determine whether McLaren or Mercedes have the second fastest car behind Red Bull.
Norris said:
"It was tough to say. I think between us and Mercedes, we were pretty tight. If you look at tire degradation, Mercedes are way, way better than we are - always have been. If you look at yesterday, Mercedes was quite a bit quicker with Lewis, so I'm going to be the guy that says no and believes that Mercedes are very close but it's tight."
He continued:
"Like I said, if Lewis stayed ahead in Turn 2, they would have beaten us today and I probably wouldn't be on the podium at all, and you'd be saying Mercedes are quicker. But just because I overtook him, you think McLaren are quicker. So it's tight, they're doing a good job, but also McLaren, I'm very happy with them - they're doing an excellent job."
It will be interesting to see if McLaren and Lando Norris can keep their good run of form going at the Belgian GP.
