Lando Norris: This stage is the best!

At Silverstone, Lando Norris repeated his career best result by finishing second, but it was the first time this had happened at home…

Q: Lando, how do you rate this one of your seven Formula 1 podiums?
Lando Norris: This stage is one of the best. I would say – the best!

The first podium will be remembered forever. Like everyone else if there aren’t that many. At Silverstone I was on the podium for the first time in my home Grand Prix, which is special in its own way. It’s nice to hear everyone sing your name, to see the fans, the team under the stage. I saw it at Silverstone in 2007 and 2008 with Lewis and Fernando on the podium. Now it’s my turn… And I’m very proud of that.

Q: How did you feel during the early laps of the British Grand Prix?
Lando Norris: My heart beat a little faster than usual, and I looked several times at the stands, at the audience. That was unbelievable.

The team did a good job, improved the car. We’ve been competitive the last couple of weekends, so I’m very happy for us. A good start saved me from the chaos behind it – you never know what can happen in Turns 3 and 4. In the first laps I managed to get away a bit, but the gap was not as big as I would like.

Q: In the last stretch you were not satisfied with having hard tyres. Do you think this decision is right?
Lando Norris: Hard to say. I would prefer soft. I probably would have experienced less stress with them the first three laps after the safety car left. But I didn’t have the new Soft set.

Q: Tell us about the fight with Lewis at the end of the race…
Lando Norris: That was amazing! I really wanted to keep second position, I did everything I could, it was important to warm up the tires well before the restart. Lewis was able to overtake me, but in fast corners we were quicker – this is our strong suit now.

I’m sure the fans enjoyed our fight, but when setting up the car I opted for a lower level of downforce, which was risky on the one hand, but I thought a situation could arise during the race in which an extra mph or two could help – and it showed.

Q: In the race you didn’t want to run hard tyres, but at the start the medium tires were very good. Looks like you did a good job with the tires all weekend. Has this quality appeared with the latest updates, or has it been since the beginning of the season?
Lando Norris: No, we didn’t have that during the season. In Bahrain it was the exact opposite.

Now we are very competitive at high speeds. We are almost on par with Red Bull, and at average speeds, in the corner in Stowe, we were one of the best, if not the best.