Lando Norris has joked that George Russell is not as fun as he used to be after his words in an interview were taken out of context.
Norris suggested recently that Russell is a little different now to what he was due to the added pressure of partnering Sir Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, but he insisted that this was not the fault of the 24-year-old’ it just is what it is.
He was asked after qualifying sixth at the British Grand Prix to clarify, and he had an amusing response.
“He’s not,” Norris joked in an interview with Sky Sports.
“It’s facts, his jokes aren’t as good anymore!”
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On a serious note, Norris went on to finish where he started in Silverstone after the race was restarted following a scary crash which saw Zhou Guanyu launched over a barrier into a fence, while Alex Albon also took a big hit.
Both are okay, and the 22-year-old became embroiled in a brilliant fight with Hamilton in the opening stages, before spending most of the afternoon in front of the Alpine of Fernando Alonso.
McLaren waited a lap too long to bring Norris in during a late Safety Car, allowing Norris to snatch P5 away but, that aside, it was a positive day for the Woking-based side.
“I’m happy because P6 is a good result for us but it should have been P5 today,” conceded Norris in the media pen.
READ: Lando Norris wanted to make George Russell’s ‘life a little bit easier’ at British GP
“Separate of that, I guess [it was a] chaotic race, very good to see both Alex and Zhou get out of the car first of all and, from what I’ve heard, they’re all good, just going for check-ups.
“So, always very nice to see, especially when you have to go and continue a race that everyone’s okay but always a scary thing to see in the middle of a race.
“So, yeah, tough start but the second start to the race was very strong, and the pace was good.
“I had Fernando behind and then we just made the wrong call with the pit stop, with the strategy and I lost the position.
“Apart from that, things were good, pace was decent and I feel like I drove a good race, so a lot of positives – just one negative.”
Russell was also involved in the melee at the start, and he abandoned his chances of continuing in the race by jumping out of his car and helping Zhou clamber out of his Alfa Romeo in an outstanding show of sportsmanship.