As F1 returns after its mandatory summer shutdown, Lando Norris has spoken of his desire to continue his winning ways at the Dutch GP.
Lando Norris’ Hungarian GP victory marked the Briton’s third win in four races. Hard fought, he took advantage of an unconventional one-stop strategy to hold off team-mate Oscar Piastri to the chequered flag.
Norris enters the Dutch GP weekend just nine points adrift of Piastri with ten races remaining. Returning to a circuit he dominated in 2024, he won last year’s race by over 20 seconds.
Speaking in the Thursday FIA press conference, Norris reflected on the first half of his season.
“I felt good before. I feel good now. I went through some harder times at the beginning of the year – there were some tricky moments – but we worked on quite a bit, me from my side and the team from their side, to improve and get a bit back on track. We did that, so it was nice to see some of those results come back my way.
“But, there always was, still is, and always will be more things to improve on and try and get stronger at. That’s what Formula 1 is, really, at the end of the day. I feel good, ready to go again – ready for a long, tricky, challenging second part of the season, but all for good reasons.”
A change in approach as the second half of the season gets underway?
Norris also confirmed he will adopt a race-by-race approach to the rest of the year, as the battle for the title intensifies.
“I mean, of course it’s about the championship, but we do that race by race. Everyone has their own way of saying that and doing it.
“But everyone takes it race by race, really. We want to win, of course. I always want to get maximum points and make my life easy, but it’s never that simple. We still have good competition, even in Budapest.
“The Ferraris were extremely quick, and George was not too far away. We still expect good battles and good competition. But as everyone knows, we expect a good battle between us as teammates – between Oscar and myself – and that’s the one I’m most looking forward to.”
Can Norris repeat his dominant 2024 performance?
Asked if he could replicate his race pace from 2024, Norris hinted that tough competition may hinder his efforts.
“I mean, of course. We’ve, as a team, been stronger this year, but I feel like other people have caught up a little bit in the last couple of races.
“What made us very strong here last year, other people have caught up on, but we’ve also improved in other places.
“So, I don’t expect to win by 20 seconds or something, but… I would love it if that was the case! I’ll try and achieve a similar thing.
“But I don’t think we expect any race to go easily now. We always come into races wanting to win, expecting a one-two, and that’s our aim and target every weekend.
“But we never get complacent and think it’s going to be an easy one. We always expect a good challenge. If we don’t and we’re further ahead, then that’s just a bonus.”
