The 23-year-old finished second at Silverstone on Sunday, becoming the first British driver since David Coulthard in 2000 to get on the podium at his home race – with the obvious exception of Sir Lewis Hamilton.
But Norris nearly lost second-place to the seven-time champion after a late safety car bunched the grid together and helped the Mercedes man up to third.
During the safety car period, many drivers took the opportunity to pit for fresh tyres, with almost all, including Hamilton, switching to a used set of softs.
However, McLaren opted to put Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri onto new hards which on paper are much slower and it was predicted that this was a mistake and could cost them any chance of a podium.
Norris certainly thought so, sarcastically replying: ‘Wonderful, huh,’ when informed of the situation on the team radio.
But such was his pace that he was able to hold off Hamilton after a thrilling battle before his compatriot’s pace dropped off as his tyres deteriorated.
Speaking post-race, an elated Norris still couldn’t get his head round the strategy call, saying: ‘They put me on hard tyres I don’t know why. They are still beginners in something!’
He later told Sky Sports: ‘I think they just wanted to give me a bit more of a test I guess, that’s what Zak [Brown, McLaren CEO] said anyway, probably Zak called the shots on that one.
‘I mean, I wanted the softs, I feel like it made a bit more sense, especially with the Safety Car coming out. But I don’t care, I’m P2, so all good.’
It is McLaren’s first podium of the season and after an awful start new upgrades appear to have propelled the MCL60 up toward the frontrunners.
‘Today was a good day at the office as they say,’ Brown said post-race.
‘Oscar and Lando drove great. The team was strong, pit stops were good, tyre strategy turned out to be the right one. We knew with the hards if we could get past the first couple of laps, then he broke DRS I would say that was a big moment.’
MORE : Max Verstappen reacts to equalling ‘crazy’ 35-year-old F1 record with British Grand Prix victory
MORE : Lewis Hamilton hails ‘rocket ship’ Lando Norris after finishing second at British Grand Prix
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