Lewis Hamilton made a classy comment about Lando Norris during the Austrian Grand Prix as he passed his fellow Brit for second place at the Red Bull Ring while Max Verstappen led the way in Austria.
Norris, who picked up his best qualifying position of his career for McLaren on Saturday, held off the seven-time world champion for 19 laps before the Mercedes driver swept past the 21-year-old.
However, as Hamilton did it, he took to his radio to praise the younger driver for his performance.
“Such a great driver, Lando,” Hamilton was heard telling his team.
Norris had a torrid lap 20 as moments later he was handed a five-second penalty for forcing Red Bull’s Sergio Perez off the track on the opening lap.
It was a double hit for Norris as stewards make their decision before Hamilton passes the McLaren with DRS up to Turn 4.
Norris rejoined behind Hamilton’s team-mate Valtteri Bottas in a net fourth place after serving his penalty in the pitstop window.
Lando was left frustrated on the radio as he was told about the penalty, exclaiming: “For what?!” as his engineer explained they would talk about it at the end of the race.
“Whatever,” was the response from the McLaren man.
“If it was for lap one (after the Safety Car), what does the guy expect trying to go around the outside?”
Lando helped McLaren back to the front row of the grid for the first time since 2012, qualifying ahead of both Mercedes drivers and even split the two Red Bulls at the Red Bull Ring.
“I feel epic!” said Norris after qualifying.
