Lando Norris feels Mercedes 'just as quick as' McLaren at the F1 British GP

Lando Norris feels Mercedes might just be as quick as McLaren in the F1 British GP, as the young driver topped FP2 on Friday. Norris has been fighting at the front of the grid ever since the team brought upgrades in Miami. Since then, the driver has been near the front of the grid and battled for the win consistently.

He won the race in Miami and since then, he's fought for the win in Canada, Imola, Barcelona, and Austria. The track layout for Silverstone is conducive and more in line with the characteristics of the McLaren and the team was expected to perform well here. The weekend has also started on a positive note, as the team had Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at the top of the timesheets in FP2.

Lando Norris, however, was not discarding the threat from Mercedes, as he felt the German team had a car capable of challenging McLaren around Silverstone. Talking to F1TV, Norris was positive about how the day the team had as he said:

"A good start to the weekend. It wasn’t like the cleanest, or it was cleanest, but didn’t feel that comfortable this morning. But through the sessions, we made some tweaks and I got in a much nicer window, which is important around here, because it’s quite on the nose and quite sketchy and pretty high-speed. Yeah, tricky but I’m happy. I think we made some good progress."

He added,

“I think we’re pretty tight and even with probably Mercedes, they seem probably just as quick as us. They just didn’t turn up the engine and do as much in the final runs. I think we’re in a good place, but we definitely have a little bit more to find.”

Lando Norris on the support he's had from the British fans

With Silverstone being his home race, Lando Norris has been swarmed by British fans throughout the weekend. The driver has had incredible support and was questioned if the support had egged him on to get a strong result for the weekend.

Norris admitted that the support had been great but hoped that the weather would be a bit better for the rest of the weekend as it could make things a bit chaotic on the track and even for the fans. He said:

"A good amount. It’s lovely, I wish the weather was a little bit better than it is at the minute, especially now! But at least the rain held off for most of the day. I love it, honestly – it’s great, it’s busy, it’s chaotic, but [I’ll] try and do my part and give back a little bit to them, and it’s been a good start to the weekend from that side of it, so we’ll just try keep it up."

After missing out on a possible win in Austria, Lando Norris will be looking to get one in Silverstone in front of the British fans.