Lando Norris makes 'fussy' admission over 'special' McLaren tribute

Lando Norris has admitted that he and Oscar Piastri are "fussy" about what they see from inside the cockpit, with McLaren running a striking one-off livery at the British Grand Prix this weekend.

The Woking-based squad has swapped its iconic papaya for a white and British Racing Green colour scheme at Silverstone, paying homage to Bruce McLaren's 1966 M2B, the first car the team's founder built and raced in F1.

The livery also honours the fact that Bruce McLaren scored the team's maiden Formula 1 point at the British Grand Prix that same year.

When asked about the one-off look for his home grand prix, Norris shared that both he and Oscar Piastri can be picky about their view from the cockpit of the MCL40.

"Actually, both me and Oscar are pretty fussy with visually what we see as drivers," Norris revealed to media, including RacingNews365.

"So actually what we have around the cockpit quite often stays the same. So when you're inside the car, we don't actually notice too many changes from the outside."

Bruce McLaren founded the team bearing his name in 1963, three years prior to its F1 debut, and he went on to take the team's first F1 victory at the 1968 Belgian Grand Prix, becoming one of only three drivers to win a World Championship race in a car of their own construction.

Addressing the livery itself, Norris added: "It's special. We always obviously try and do special things, but it's special because it's Bruce's first car.

"So it feels more like just an honour that we get to relive this and kind of bring it back to life, and also I think showcase it, because not many people know that the first car Bruce had was the white, green and grey.

"Obviously, we try to put a bit more of a modern twist on it, but it's not papaya. So, it's cool that I'm one of the drivers that gets to kind of relive that and throw it back to the beginning of the McLaren story, which is something very special.

Both MCL40s showed solid pace on Friday, with Piastri fifth and Norris seventh in practice before the pair qualified sixth and seventh respectively for the sprint.

"And touch wood, generally we have good races when we have liveries on and things like that, and especially for me," Norris added. "So, it's cool that we're doing something different as well."