Lando Norris
McLaren
Mercedes
Red Bull
Ferrari
Williams
Racing Bulls
Aston Martin
Haas
Alpine
Jolyon Palmer has offered his theory on Lando Norris’ furious radio message to the McLaren pit-wall after the chequered flag fell for the Sprint race at the British Grand Prix.
Despite finishing the 17-lap race in P3, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris sounded very disappointed over the McLaren team radio as his race engineer, Will Joseph, congratulated him on the result.
Kimi Antonelli wins the British GP Sprint. Who can stop him winning the Grand Prix?
“Yeah, good job, well done. Just… F— me guys, just get it right for once, please,” the reigning world champion spat out.
Jolyon Palmer thinks Lando Norris wasn’t ‘chuffed’ about the differences in deployment in British GP Sprint
Speaking via Channel 4’s coverage of the race weekend at Silverstone, F1 pundit Jolyon Palmer shared his surprise at Norris’ fury after such a strong result, theorising that the differences in deployment are what got the Briton riled up.
“Very pointed from Norris, wasn’t it?” the former F1 driver said in response. “I thought he drove a great race there. I mean, he started sixth, finished third and all while having a slower car than Russell and Leclerc.
How is energy management affecting the spectacle at Silverstone? 🪫
“It was a great drive, with massive deployment differences on the first lap. I wonder if that’s what he’s not chuffed about.”
Norris was one of the big winners in the early portion of the race, catapulting himself up from P6 on the grid to P2 at one point.
However, a clear difference in where Mercedes were using their electrical power, compared to McLaren, was evident as Norris was quickly swamped by both Silver Arrows.
Still, the fact that last year’s winner of the British Grand Prix was still able to get the better of Russell later on in the race certainly bodes well for McLaren, especially considering Antonelli went on to take the chequered flag first at the end of the race.
- READ MORE: British Grand Prix 2026: How to watch, F1 race and Sprint times, and Silverstone weather forecast
Jolyon Palmer reacts to first lap ‘madness’ during British GP Sprint
Palmer also believes that there may be some engineers inside the F1 paddock who will be analysing McLaren’s impressive deployment strategy at the start of the race to gain an early advantage in Sunday’s Grand Prix.
“That first lap was madness, wasn’t it?” Palmer said after taking a moment to recall what happened in the early portion of the race. “You’ve got the McLaren’s charging through and then falling back, which reminded me of Melbourne.
“There, Arvid Lindblad stormed his way up to third place at one point on the first lap. Here, of course, there’s another race start tomorrow, so are the teams going to look at what McLaren did?
“They may think, ‘Maybe we go more aggressive at the start, then get our elbows out and hold track position.’ It’s clearly worked out for Norris.”
Receive exclusive F1 news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
