Lando Norris Channels his Inner Kimi Raikkonen During Italian GP

At the Italian Grand Prix, Lando Norris charged from the back of the grid to a well-deserved 10th. Sometime during the race, the McLaren driver invoked the sprit of Kimi Raikkonen in a radio message. At the time, the engineer was telling the Briton about who his next opponents were, and their strategy. However, Norris cut in and told his engineer to “stop f***ing talking when I’m trying to race”.

It was a call back to when Raikkonen gave his engineer a ticking off for talking to him in the middle of a corner. In addition to that, it was also a reference to leave him alone as he knew what he was doing.

Speaking after the race, the McLaren driver said, “A decent race and a point is alright considering where I started, but you always want a little bit more.”

“We got a bit unlucky: we boxed, we had the undercut on Perez, but then the Virtual Safety Car came out and he got a bit lucky to stay ahead and went on to finish in P7.

“I’m not suggesting we definitely would’ve finished there, because I think they still had better pace than us, but we could’ve finished better without the VSC. 

“In the end, I didn’t think we had all the pace but we hung on, managed to finish the race and got a point – which was a good thing after last weekend in Belgium.”

Lando Norris also insisted that McLaren have not hit the panic button just yet, in spite of Renault bringing in a massive points overhaul. He admitted that he was unaware of the issue that befell teammate Carlos Sainz, but he did vow to come back stronger in Singapore.

McLaren and Renault are currently locked in a battle to be the Best of the Rest after Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.