Lando Norris: I missed the win at the start

Lando Norris on why he let his teammate pass while leading the race at the Hungaroring…

Q: Lando, congratulations. You and McLaren had an impressive weekend. How do you assess the results of the last two days?
Lando Norris: I’m trying to remember the right word. I don’t know. Just amazing. Amazing.

A very good weekend for all of us, for the team. No mistakes. Excellent car speed. This weekend we can say with confidence that we were the fastest. For the first time this season.

This is our first winning double since Monza with Daniel in 2021. Then there were ups and downs. A year ago we had problems, but in Miami the situation has changed. This is incredible. So it was a fantastic weekend. And I am very happy for us, for the team, for everyone involved.

Q: How difficult was it for you to give up winning the race?
Lando Norris: I didn’t give up winning. I missed it in the beginning. I know everyone will say I gave away the win, even though it’s not true. The team gave me this position and I gave it back. Nothing more.

Q: There have been several radio conversations between you and your race engineer. How seriously did you consider not giving up the role?
Lando Norris: Some thoughts are constantly going through my head, because, you know… In this sport, sometimes you have to be selfish. You have to think about yourself. It’s priority number one to think about yourself. But I’m a team player, I remember how Oscar and I acted in the past. He helped me a lot. The situation here is completely different. This doesn’t help each other. I was brought forward, and then we canceled this change of position.

Many will say that the gap to Max in the individual competition is quite big: 60, 70, 80 points or something like that. But if Red Bull and Max make mistakes like today, and we keep improving and have weekends like this, we can change everything.

Yes, it sounds too optimistic for now, but I can earn 70 points in half a season. And when you think about the seven or six points I give away, then… This comes to mind. But I understood the situation I was in and I was confident that I would do it in the last round.

Q: Will you become more selfish in the future?
Lando Norris: It all depends on the circumstances. I don’t know. I think I put myself in this situation and it’s not my fault. It’s just that the team should have put Oscar in first and we didn’t even talk about it. We could do things a little bit differently, and I’m sure we’ll talk about it.

But at the same time… This guy deserved to win. He did a great job. He passed me at the start and yeah, it’s a very special feeling to win his first race, and I say first race because it’s the first time he wins a race and not a sprint. So yeah, I let him enjoy it. And you know, it was an incredible weekend for us as a team.

Q: Lando, you said you were always confident you would step down from the role. But from the messages we heard there were serious concerns on the pitwall about it. Why don’t you confirm to give them peace of mind that you will miss it?
Lando Norris: That wasn’t necessary. I know what I’m going to do and what I’m not going to do. I was going to wait until the last lap, until the last corner. But then they said that if the safety car suddenly showed up and I couldn’t miss the Oscars, I would look like an idiot. And I missed it almost immediately.

Q: You said on the radio that you are fighting for the World Championship. Do you think McLaren made the wrong decision?
Lando Norris: No. I didn’t give away the win. I missed it at the beginning. When changing to second gear, the car suddenly lost momentum and Oscar took the lead. That’s all.

Then we made it too difficult for ourselves. I should have pitted Oscar first and that would have been easy, but they gave me the lead and I got it back. I shouldn’t have won this race. I didn’t deserve to win because of my start and Oscar’s good start. So the team was right and I support their decision.

Q: At the beginning of the year everyone thought Max would win the championship, but now McLaren has the fastest car. Do you really think the battle is still on?
Lando Norris: Yes, I am looking forward to it. At the end of 2023 I said that we are going to win races this year. At the beginning of this year I said that it would not be easy for Red Bull, and it all came true.

We have to pay tribute to the team that provided us with such a car. We won in Hungary, but this is only our second win of the season. Red Bull has many more. Mercedes has almost as many wins as us.

Yes, at the Hungaroring we won one race and dominated the weekend, but that doesn’t mean we have the fastest car of the season. Yes, she was the best on both tracks. Do we have the possibility to win more? Yes. Do we need to have the fastest car for that? I don’t think so.

I know I have to make up 70-80 points. Many will say there is no chance, but we will keep fighting. You know, when you see Max and Red Bull not performing so well, making mistakes and having accidents, you want to make the most of these opportunities. So yes, everything is still possible. I am ready to fight!