Norris’ openness used against him – Sainz

Grand Prix of Hungary

Hungaroring Dates: 1-3 August Race start time: 15:00 BST on Sunday

Lando Norris’ willingness to acknowledge his shortcomings is “used against him,” according to his former team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Sainz, who worked with Norris at McLaren from 2019-20 and has remained close friends with the Briton, told BBC 5 live Sport: “He opens up] to the media and to people more than any other driver on the grid, and people use that against him.”

Sainz, who is currently driving for Williams, said: “What you see on TV is what he is as a person.” He excels at exposing himself.

It’s occasionally a little ironic and frustrating to me. He is probably the only person who is completely honest about his thoughts and feelings, but then people turn their heads to him.

Norris ended Friday practice at the Grand Prix of Hungary fastest by 0.291 seconds from team-mate Oscar Piastri.

Before this race, which marks the end of Formula 1’s summer break, Norris is 16 points adrift of the Australian.

Sainz said Norris’ criticism of his openness was “a little sad” because probably the other 19 drivers share the same level of doubt and self-criticism with each other; they simply don’t explain it loud because we prefer to keep it inside and avoid the media.”

Norris has acknowledged that this season he made errors that have cost him points.

Prior to this year, Norris was having trouble anticipating the car’s behavior when he was pushing to the limit due to a lack of feel from the front axle.

Norris has been more at ease since the Canadian Grand Prix in June, and McLaren have changed the front suspension to make this aspect of the car better for him.

Norris, who had a misjudged start to the race, crashed into Piastri after making errors on his qualifying laps in Canada, which put him sixth on the grid.

When Piastri was fined for driving behind a safety car, he inherited victory at the British Grand Prix, which he won in Austria.

The following weekend, Norris claimed pole position in Belgium, but Piastri won the race and won the race.

When asked about Norris’ chances of winning the World Championship this year, Sainz responded, “If I base my decision on my speed and talent, I’m 100% certain he has that to win a World Championship.

“F1 also requires a little luck, mental toughness, and driving at the right time at the right time.”

He’ll have a second chance, according to the saying, “It doesn’t really matter if he doesn’t win this year.” He has 10-15 years in F1. He has talent, speed, and potential.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came third each time in Friday practice at the Hungaroring, Norris topping both of their previous victories.

Although the gap between the two was larger in the later hour, neither driver had a perfect run, Norris had a 0.019sec advantage in the first session. At Turn Two, Norris had to cancel his first flying lap, and Piastri had to deal with the heavy traffic at his fastest.

When Norris got his outside front wheel turned in toward the finish line, he made a quick evasion and ran wide into the finish line.

“The car has felt pretty good since the first lap,” Norris continued. My laps were all respectable. The practice and attempting to find the limit in various areas included a few more mistakes in the second session, which was a little more messy.

I have the car’s requirements, but it might be more challenging to fulfill them.

Piastri stated, “The performance was excellent. Some things to arrange. Although it wasn’t the smoothest P2s, the rest of the weekend was filled with excitement.

Even though the Spaniard missed the first session to allow himself more time to recover from a muscle problem in his back, the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso came in fourth and fifth place.

Lewis Hamilton appeared to struggle with rear-end stability based on several oversteer snaps that sent him into the chicane, making sixth place 0.306 seconds slower than team-mate Leclerc.

George Russell, a Mercedes driver, came in seventh place ahead of Isack Hadjar, Yuki Tsunoda from Red Bull, and Kimi Antonelli from Mercedes.

Max Verstappen of Red Bull was in 14th place, saying: “Today was really tough, just a low-grip feeling and not really a balance in the car.” Nothing really worked, so it’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause.

Verstappen threw a towel out of the car once during the session, forcing him to see the stewards afterwards. Red Bull received a warning from the stewards.

Verstappen once remarked, “Your face will just be wiped clean when you come back in. Since it was still in the car when I left, I drove off line and removed it in the safest possible manner to avoid it from possibly getting in between my feet, which is the dangerous part. The stewards should be aware of that, I believe.