Lando Norris admitted after his victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix that he was “not making life very easy” for himself in his title battle with team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris’ win closes the gap to his McLaren team-mate in the championship to nine points going into Formula 1’s summer break and was his third win in the last four races.
But it came after he dropped to fifth place on the first lap after compromising himself trying to pass Piastri at the first corner.
Norris said: “It’s already tough, and it’s going to continue to be tough. It’s pretty small margins between us. I’m sure there’s some things I can do better on and improve on, and I’m sure he’ll probably say a similar thing.
“It’s going be a long second half of the season, I’m sure, but at the same time, I’m looking forward to a nice break, a bit of time to rest and try and come back even better because there are those things I need to improve on and want to improve on.
“I’m not giving myself the best opportunities. Even though the results have looked great, I’m not making my life very easy for myself at the minute. So if I can work on those things, then I’ll be in a better place.”
Hungary was the latest in a series of races in which Norris has had small issues that have cost him in the championship so far this season.
Norris qualified third at the Hungaroring, behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Piastri, and lost positions to Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso after Piastri held him tight to the inside on the run to the first corner.
Norris had to switch to a one-stop tyre strategy to try to recover ground, and it paid off, even though McLaren did not know when they made the decision whether he would be able to make it work.
“It’s one of the first ones I’ve won in probably this manner,” Norris said. “I’ve not won many races, so most circumstances are still new, but I think it’s the first one where doing a completely alternate strategy to most, giving myself that opportunity, worked out.
“It’s a tough strategy to do, but it worked out. That’s the most important thing. And, honestly, I didn’t really think it was going to work for the majority of that second stint. But with every lap, I kind of gained more confidence that it was going to be closer and closer. So, yeah, definitely a rewarding one.”
It was Norris’ fifth win of the season, compared to Piastri’s six, and the two drivers expect a close fight to the end of the season when the championship resumes at the Dutch Grand Prix on 29-31 August.
Piastri said: “It’s going to be a tough second half of the year. It has been tough already, and the margins are very fine. So, I think it’s going to be great watching.”
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team would continue to allow them to race fairly between themselves.
“We are McLaren Racing,” Stella said. “We bring the value of racing into Formula 1. So we want to give great racing for Formula 1.
“We want to give our two drivers the possibility to utilise, express their talent, pursue their aspirations, their personal success, and this needs to happen within the boundaries of the team interest, and the fairness, the sportsmanship, and the respect for one another. For me, this is what I see.
“These are the values of McLaren, and it’s going to be, hopefully, a matter between the two McLaren drivers, even if we saw Ferrari today was in the competition for the victory for two thirds of the race.
“I think we have a very entertaining and interesting final part of the season.”