Marc Surer has been forced to eat his words after calling Lando Norris a driver “on Gasly’s level”.
Two weeks ago, Surer had delivered one of the hottest takes of the season when he stated that Lando Norris was on Pierre Gasly’s level. This happened after Norris took second place at the Italian GP. At the time, Surer has said that Norris wasn’t up to par with the likes of the top drivers, saying he wasn’t a “high flyer”.
Speaking on a video for the Formel1.de YouTube channel, Surer said, “(Norris is) someone who learns, which is always something very important in Formula 1, that you not only trust in your talent, but can also improve.
“Similar to Gasly, he got better and better. That’s why I would put him at this level. He has improved, he is learning. That means, he makes something out of his talent. And in the long term these are usually the better drivers.”
Aged like milk
Two weeks later, Surer has been forced to eat his words after witnessing Norris’ performance at the Russian GP. He heaped praise on the McLaren driver, and backtracked on his initial opinions about him.
“Norris has improved a lot this year,” Surer said.
“We must not forget, he is already three years in Formula 1. The first two years, he wasn’t impressive. But now you can see how good Carlos Sainz is at Ferrari, and Norris was often better.
“That means you can see that he learned from someone who drove at a high level. We didn’t really know that beforehand. Now, this year, against Ricciardo, I have to say that he cuts a very good figure.
“He convinced me in Sochi. He actually proved that he can win the race in front of a World Champion. He didn’t let himself become nervous. I saw no mistakes from him. It was super strong what he showed,” he concluded.
Read more: Salo praises Mazepin after initial criticism for Russian driver – “We didn’t know about the car”