Button expresses concern for Norris after British GP comments

Jenson Button has expressed concern for Lando Norris's well-being after comments made following the British Grand Prix.

Norris was a major victory contender at Silverstone, but a strategy blunder from McLaren led to the soft tyres being fitted to Norris's car at the change-back from intermediate tyres to slicks, instead of the brand-new mediums saved for just a scenario.

Norris also pitted a lap later than Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, allowing both to undercut him as Hamilton passed the McLaren for the lead, with Verstappen ultimately getting past for second in the closing laps.

Post-race, an emotional Norris felt the team had once again "thrown away" a grand prix win, with just one to his name this season, despite McLaren having the fastest car.

Addressing media post-race, Norris was also visibly emotional, but 2009 world champion Button is concerned for the younger Briton.

"Lando needs to be a little bit careful with his emotions," Button reflected on Sky Sports F1.

"He is putting himself down massively at the last race, this race, it can quite easily spiral out of control.

"We know how important it is to have your head in the right place. He is so talented that I don’t want him to be too down on himself so that he is not back up there at the next race.

"You also don’t want to show your competitors that you’re that down. That’s a weakness that you don’t want to show.

"It’s lovely that he’s open with his emotions and it’s great for us viewers.

"But I’m just thinking of the competitive side of things. He shouldn’t be so down on himself."

What did Norris actually say?

Third place was Norris's seventh podium of the season, but for the fourth straight race, he saw Verstappen extend his championship lead, which now stands at 84 points. 

The previous best record for overhauling a points deficit to win the title is 46 from Verstappen on Charles Leclerc in 2022, although that gap was only after three races of a 22 race season, with Norris having just 12 remaining of the 24 in '24, as he rued the strategy at Silverstone.

"We still had a weekend where we've clearly been the quickest. We've always been there or thereabouts, but never the car, and I think we need to keep working as a team," Norris told media including RacingNews365. 

"I need to keep working on my own stuff, and just try and put it together because there are still so many positives. 

"There are so many good things and so many things in place, but it is frustrating when a few times this season we've thrown away something that should have been ours.

I've heard that a lot lately, so I hate saying it again. But yeah, I mean, so many things were going well. We threw it away in the final stop.

"So one lap, but also I don't think it was a lap. I think even if I boxed on the perfect lap, our decision to go on to the Softs was the wrong one.

"I think Lewis still would have won no matter what. So two calls from our side cost us everything, so, especially here, pretty disappointing."

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