A touch of class from Lando Norris

Mark Scott
Lando Norris PA

McLaren wants Lando Norris to lose "rookie" feel in third season.

There was a few wholesome moments over the course of the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend, but Lando Norris saved the best until last.

In Hungary, Norris and McLaren did not quite hit the same heights as the first two races of the season in Austria. After clinching his first-ever Formula 1 podium in the season opener, Norris went from P8 to P5 on the last lap which has earned him the moniker ‘Last Lap Lando’.

And while Norris still managed to get an overtake done on Esteban Ocon during the final lap of the Hungarian race, it only moved him up to P13. His team-mate, Carlos Sainz, only managed to scrape a couple of points up in P9.

But, before Norris headed back home to recharge the batteries ahead of a double header at Silverstone, he decided to roll his sleeves up and help the team strip down the car and pack away.

Back-to-back-to-back races in multiple locations take a huge toll on the all teams, but especially on those mechanics who work tirelessly around the clock each and every day to get the car ready for the track.

Norris wasn’t the only driver to show appreciation for his garage crew in Hungary as Max Verstappen was hugely indebted to those that managed to fix his car with just 20 minutes to go before lights out.

On a slippy surface, Verstappen almost lost the car three times during the parade lap before he finally binned it at Turn 12. The turnaround to get him ready for the race was quite remarkable.

“I thought it was all over but my mechanics are legends who saved the day,” Verstappen wrote on Instagram. “A very big thank you to all of them for this P2.”
He added in the FIA post-race press conference: “The track rod was broken I think, the pull rod was broken so not the easiest things to quickly change but they did an amazing job to do that.

12 minutes they managed to repair that, which is crazy.

“I was sitting in the car, I could see the mechanics screaming at each other like ten seconds, five seconds, put the wheel on, everything.

“I don’t know if final piece of tape on the suspension to make sure it was sticking. I put my thumbs up and they were like, yeah, yeah, it’s fixed, so I said OK, well then here we go, let’s see.

“I was doing the formation laps, I was checking the wheels, I was like this feels alright, yep and during the race, nothing happened, nothing weird happens so it was fully repaired. So yeah, crazy.”

Follow us on Twitter @Planet_F1 and like our Facebook page.