Lando Norris has insisted that McLaren and Mercedes have the “same pace”, following comments made by Lewis Hamilton.
Norris finished second at the Hungarian Grand Prix last weekend to secure his first ever consecutive podiums in Formula 1.
The British driver started the race in third but was actually overtaken by team-mate Oscar Piastri at the first corner; however, Norris reclaimed third at Turn 2 after overtaking Hamilton.
Norris went on to finish second after performing an undercut on Piastri, which was somewhat initiated by the Woking-based team.
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Hamilton, meanwhile, had to settle fourth, despite having started the race on pole position.
The seven-time World Champion complained during the race at how incredibly fast McLaren’s car is; however, Norris hit back after the race and insisted that the two teams have the “same pace”.
Norris fired a few shots at Hamilton who has been busy praising McLaren as of late, having driven for the team from 2007-2012.
The 23-year-old admitted that the Woking-based team simply did a “better job” than Mercedes at the Hungaroring, to make the most of their strong qualifying position.
“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,” Norris said in the post-race press conference.
“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.
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“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.”
Norris 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 has now finished ahead of Hamilton in the past three races, ahead of this weekend’s trip to the Belgian Grand Prix where the Briton could be strong once again.