Lando Norris names biggest British GP threat — and it’s not Red Bull

Lando Norris believes the British Grand Prix is going to be “tight” but he’s not expecting his competition to come from Max Verstappen and Red Bull. Instead, it’s coming from Mercedes.

After two practice sessions for the British Grand Prix , the McLaren driver feels his biggest challenge on race day will come from the Mercedes team of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.

Lando Norris: ‘Mercedes… seem just as quick as us’

Despite the fact that Norris topped the timing charts in both FP1 and FP2, he’s not quite confident that pace will remain all the way through race day.

Speaking after the second practice session on Friday, he admitted that he “didn’t feel that comfortable this morning.

“But through the sessions, we made some tweaks, and I got in a much nicer window — which is important around here because it’s quite on the nose and quite sketchy.”

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But that progress and that performance aren’t enough for Norris to feel comfortable calling McLaren the cream of the British GP crop.

“I think we’re pretty tight, and even with probably Mercedes,” Norris said. “They seem probably just as quick as us.

“They just didn’t turn up the engine and do as much in the final runs.

“I think we’re in a good place, but we definitely have a little more to find.”

In FP1, Norris topped the timing charts ahead of Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin and his team-mate’s McLaren. Max Verstappen ended the session in fourth place, with Mercedes’ George Russell fifth.

In FP2, Norris claimed the lead of the session ahead of his teammate and Sergio Perez. Mercedes claimed sixth (Lewis Hamilton) and 10th (Russell) in the session.

However, McLaren prioritized soft tire runs during practice, while other teams explored the medium compound for longer periods of time. The softer  tires likely resulted in a comfortable lead at the head of the field for the Woking outfit.

And, as all Formula 1 fans know, practice is only the beginning; true pace will begin to reveal itself in qualifying, while race day itself can be an entirely different beast.

There’s quite a lot to play for this weekend, as Norris and Verstappen continue to come down from their contact in the final stages of the Austrian Grand Prix — which resulted in Mercedes’ George Russell sneaking through for a win.

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