Lando Norris has mocked the "crappy" overtaking skills of friend and Formula 1 rival George Russell after their latest on-track battle at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Russell got the better of his fellow Brit in the principality, crossing the line one place ahead to continue his impressive streak of finishing in the top five of every race so far this season. In doing so, he will have enjoyed the moment he flew past his friend after exiting Turn 1.
The move came early in the race, with Mercedes timing a pit stop well to ensure that Russell was on warmed up tyres by the time Norris went in for fresh rubber. As the McLaren man exited the pit lane, he was powerless to resist as the Silver Arrow roared past him on the wet part of the track.
It wasn't shown live on the TV coverage – something pointed out by Russell as he spoke about it after the race. During that same interview, he struggled to hide just how pleased he was to have pulled off the manoeuvre, which earned him a few extra championship points.
"He came out in front of me at the pit exit," Russell told Sky Sports F1 . "I was behind and then he went to the left and I sort of went on the wet stuff. But it felt pretty dicey from within the car for Monaco in damp conditions, but obviously not good enough for the TV producer."
As expected, Norris was less impressed by the move when he was asked about it by Motorsport.com . "That was supposed to be mega?" he said with a chuckle. "I mean, if that was a mega overtaking move, then he did a few crappy overtaking moves before that!"
He went on to claim that the timing of his pit stop had made it easy for Russell to move past. "I just pitted on wet tyres and he had a one lap advantage because he was already on slicks and the slick was the right tyre," Norris added. "He had warm tyres, mine were cold. And he passed me, it's very simple."
Despite being 36 points behind his rival in the drivers' standings, Norris can be pleased with the 48 points he has earned so far considering the problems McLaren had in the first few races – design issues made the car entirely uncompetitive. In any case, he is vastly outperforming Daniel Ricciardo, who has struggled and earned just 11 points so far.
