What McLaren said to Lando Norris during Dutch Grand Prix that left Martin Brundle ‘scratching’ his head

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Lando Norris will be delighted that after waiting more than five years to win his first Formula 1 race, he didn’t have to wait too much longer to stand on the top step of the podium for a second time.

McLaren have built the fastest car on the grid and despite Max Verstappen getting the better of Norris off the line once again, he was able to overtake him before the first round of pit stops due to his sheer pace.

Andrea Stella and Zak Brown’s team are still learning how to win as their one-two at the Hungarian Grand Prix proved before the summer break.

Oscar Piastri won that day but it took some tense negotiations with Lando Norris over the team radio for him to give the lead back.

Norris losing the race lead at the Dutch Grand Prix forced McLaren into rethinking their strategy.

There was no guarantee after the opening laps that Norris would be able to overtake Verstappen again as the Dutchman had managed to get out of the range of being able to use his DRS.

However, that led to his race engineer asking a question that left David Croft and Martin Brundle on Sky Sports F1 slightly confused.

Communication hasn’t been McLaren’s strongest point during races.

They put the emphasis on Norris to choose his tyres at Silverstone which ultimately cost him victory.

On this occasion, the conversation didn’t cost Norris any points, but is a matter that could be worked on in the future.

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Martin Brundle left ‘scratching my head’ after Lando Norris radio message during Dutch Grand Prix

With Norris still trailing Verstappen, his race engineer asked the two-time race winner the question: “Who do you think we are racing, just Max?”

A slightly confused but composed Norris replied: “I think we are racing everyone, especially the car ahead.”

Croft wasn’t really sure about the message and said on commentary: “Yeah, I’m not sure about that message there to Lando Norris.

“That message to Lando Norris there, the pit wall asking who do you think we’re racing?”

Brundle replied: “I know, I’m scratching my head on that one, to be honest as to why Lando would know as well as they would know on the pit wall because going one way or the other, he’s busy driving his race.”

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Lando Norris makes dig at Max Verstappen after the Dutch Grand Prix

Norris looked incredibly impressive once he passed Verstappen, diving down the inside with the benefit of his DRS heading down into turn one and not making a mistake in getting the move completed.

He then opened up a significant advantage, particularly once he switched to the hard tyres.

Crossing the line, Norris had a cheeky dig at Verstappen with his radio message although the pair were in a good mood after the race.

Norris and Verstappen were both surprised by how slow one driver was when watching in the cooldown room and seemed to enjoy the race even if the Dutchman may privately be quite concerned by the gap at the end of the Grand Prix.

The Italian Grand Prix next weekend will give another indication of how strong McLaren’s well-rounded car is compared to their rivals.

But aside from his race starts, Norris will also want the communication between himself and the pit wall to improve very quickly.