“I Think We Pissed Him Off”- Alpine Director Takes Offense to Lando Norris & Makes Bizarre Mercedes Claim

Lando Norris recently took a shot at rivals Alpine while praising McLaren for staying in the hunt for 4th in the constructors’ championship. The Briton expressed his cluelessness about how his team is still in competition with Alpine, who have a faster car. The comments haven’t gone down well with Alpine’s Sporting Director Alan Permane.

McLaren briefly pipped Alpine for the 4th position in the constructors’ championship after a 4-5 finish in Singapore. Alpine double DNF’d in that race. However, the joy was short-lived after Alpine retook the position at Suzuka. While the top 3 positions look settled, the battle for 4th looks far from over.

Alan Permane displeased with Lando Norris’ comments

Alpine are currently sitting in 4th with a gap of 13 points between them and McLaren. McLaren needs Daniel Ricciardo to find his form now more than ever. If they finish the season in 5th, it will be their worst finish in Formula 1 since 2018. With only 4 races to go, shots are being fired from both sides.

According to a Tweet from Motorsport.com Türkiye, Alan Permane was upset with McLaren’s British driver’s comment. While expressing his displeasure, he made a bizarre claim. Permane said, “Lando likes to talk about us all the time, right? But our only goal is to stay ahead. I’m not sure why he keeps making these kinds of comments. I think we pissed him off. We’re more focused on beating Mercedes [rather than McLaren].” [Translated using Google]

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Mercedes are currently planted in the 3rd position in the constructors’ standings with a gulf of 244 points between them and Alpine. Mathematically speaking, even if Alpine’s drivers take 1-2 in the remaining 4 races and Mercedes fails to score any point, they still cannot take the 3rd position.

Who knows? Maybe the British engineer was talking about his team’s long-term goals.

What was Lando Norris’ dig at Alpine?

Daniel Ricciardo is going through one of the worst phases of his F1 career. While the Australian driver is struggling to rack up points, teammate Lando Norris has taken up the responsibility of delivering points for his team. That being said, McLaren hasn’t been able to field a competitive car.

Alpine, on the other hand, has a quicker car. Speaking in this context, Lando said that he was clueless about how they were still fighting Alpine in the championship. Praising his team for the car’s reliability and not making too many mistakes, Lando took a jab at Alpine. “They must’ve done a lot worse than us on all of those areas to only just be ahead of us in the championship with the car that they have.”

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While the battle on the track is already pretty heated, the war of words is no less interesting.