Lando Norris said he was pleased Lewis Hamilton answered his critics with his first win for Ferrari yesterday.
The reigning world champion finished third in the race while Hamilton took his 106th career victory. The breakthrough win for Ferrari came after Hamilton failed to reach the podium during his entire first season with the famous team.
Hamilton has started 2026 stronger, however, with the victory following consecutive second-place finishes in the previous two rounds.
“It’s pretty special,” Norris said. “The last few weekends he’s certainly seemed to have upped his game.”
Hamilton made his F1 debut in 2007, when Norris was seven years old. “I grew up as a fan of Lewis, and I don’t know if I would still say I’m that kind of fan, but I’m still a fan of him,” Norris added.
“As a seven-time world champion, it’s always a pleasure to see those kinds of things. And with Ferrari again, it’s even cooler to see that partnership come through and pay dividends, as it is doing now.”
However Norris admitted: “I hope he’s not this fast the whole season, because it would be nice if we could battle a bit more.”
“But good for him. I think you could see how much it meant to him. At the same time, he’s obviously had a lot of people talk badly about him and he’s received a lot of rubbish online from many people, so it’s nice that he can stick the middle finger up to all of them.”
George Russell, Hamilton’s former Mercedes team mate from 2022 to 2024, finished between Hamilton and Norris on the podium. “We both sort of grew up as fans of Lewis,” the Mercedes driver said.
“For myself, spending three years together at Mercedes, I have so much respect for him. It was a big, bold move to join Ferrari, and to see it now paying off for him is very special given the magnitude of that decision.
“He’s going to be a real threat. So, as Lando said, hopefully it doesn’t continue for too long, but to be standing up here, three Brits on the podium for the first time in 60 years, it’s a special feeling.”
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