Norris calls out ‘whinger’ Hamilton as Mercedes ace told he’s completely wrong

Lando Norris has called out Lewis Hamilton for whinging about the performance of his Mercedes W14. Hamilton finished 16th quickest in FP2 at Hungaroring on Friday and said that the car felt like it was performing “at its worst” ahead of the qualifiers for the Hungary Grand Prix on Saturday.

But the Brit found himself in pole position heading into the main race after pipping Max Verstappen to first place in qualification. However, a nightmare start would see him drop back to eventually finish fourth – two places behind Norris.

In the immediate aftermath, Hamilton questioned the “crazy amount” of speed which saw Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri surge past him midway through the race. But Norris, growing tired of Hamilton’s excuses, insisted that his rival’s Mercedes and his McLaren have “the same pace”.

“Mercedes were on pole here last year, and their car has been pretty good. I know Lewis complains a lot of how amazing our car is and how bad theirs is, but they don’t have a bad car. And they haven’t all season,” he said.

“Today, we struggled more than we would have liked. But we know this is an area for improvement. So yeah, I think it’s a positive surprise, again, to be where we are.

“But we have the same pace as Mercedes, it’s just we’ve done a better job. So I have to thank the whole team for that.” He added: “Yesterday [Saturday], Lewis complained of how tough it was finishing outside first position. Try racing in 19th and 20th. He’s never done that in his life. So that’s the only thing that Lewis hasn’t done in Formula 1.”

Norris went on to suggest that Hamilton and Mercedes’ collapse was simply a case of them “not executing a good race” early on. 

“Lewis stayed ahead [at the first corner], which was frustrating,” he said. “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.

“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.”