Lando Norris and George Russell have been singled out for their performances during the first half of their rookie seasons.
Both arrived in Formula 1 with some weight of expectation as Russell had won last year’s F2 title while Norris had made plenty of Friday outings with McLaren.
And while the measure of their relative success has been different, ex-Renault driver turned BBC pundit Jolyon Palmer believes both have met their targets.
“Both rookies Lando Norris and George Russell might have been expected to take some time to bed in, but they have both been extremely quick from the outset,” he stated via the British broadcaster.
“Norris has been faster than teammate Carlos Sainz fairly convincingly across the first 12 races, although he trails him by a long way in the standings.
“That’s partly because of some unreliability for Norris in Canada, France and Germany, while Sainz has also been very impressive in his own right, with great drives in Austria and Germany in particular. As a whole, McLaren are on the up.”
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As for Russell, his chances to shine have been far more restricted at a Williams team planted firmly at the back of the grid but he has still shown signs of his potential.
“Russell has had a tougher time because of the difficult position in which the Williams team find themselves, but he has done everything that could be expected of him,” Palmer continued.
“He has utterly demolished Robert Kubica in the teammate stakes except in Germany – and that will no doubt hurt as his fellow Williams driver somehow took the team’s only point so far.
“With Williams showing more potential in Hungary, Russell will be hopeful of more eventful outings for the second half of the season to truly show his potential.”
