Lando Norris admits it was a disappointing weekend for him and McLaren, as the team’s double-DNF hands Alpine the advantage in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Somerset driver came into the weekend with doubts about even racing, as he was plagued with an illness, but when he hopped into his MCL36, the pace on show surprised everyone.
He qualified in fourth on Friday, whilst Kevin Magnussen claimed his first pole position in F1 thanks to some rainy conditions, but wasn’t able to capitalise during the Sprint and finished in seventh.
Thanks to some penalties, the Brit ended up starting the race from fifth on the grid and after an electric start, was running in fourth and battling with Max Verstappen for third through the first corners of the race.
However, Daniel Ricciardo soon attempted an impossible move down the inside of the aforementioned Magnussen and collided with the Dane, causing the first safety car of the Grand Prix.
After the restart, Norris was soon involved in a battle with Charles Leclerc who was chasing down the Brit from behind, and the two collided, causing the Monegasque to spin out and a five-second penalty for the McLaren driver.
This hindered his race completely and, after serving his penalty on the pit, Norris came back out into the midfield and had to fight amongst his rivals to try and find his way back in the points.
However, he was able to do so and after finding warmth in his tyres fought his way back to the final points positions, but it didn’t last for long, as the Brit had to pit on Lap 45, switching to soft tyres.
This seemed to work as he found his fastest lap of the race on Lap 48, with a lap time of 1:15.855, but disaster struck, just two laps later, as an engine failure forced Norris to pull over to the side of the track and retire from the race.
He has held his seventh place in the Drivers’ standings tucked away for several weeks now, but the team is still in contention for fourth overall in the Constructors’ Championship, however, it doesn’t look likely after yesterday’s race.
Alpine’s double-point finish was enough to propel them to a 19-point advantage, thanks to a fifth-place finish from Fernando Alonso and an eighth-place finish from Esteban Ocon.
After the race, Norris shared his thoughts with the team, stating: “My start was good, but it was a disappointing Sunday for us. Regarding the contact with Charles, I thought it was a racing incident. Of course, I didn’t want contact, and I held my line as much as possible. Maybe I could have given him 5cm more and he could have given me 5cm more but it’s just a shame what happened.
“For the rest of the race, we were off the pace. I'd like to believe there was a little bit of damage because we were too slow today. I’m not sure why we stopped, the team will investigate. I’ve not been very well this weekend, but I’ve had a lot of support from the team, and we’re now focusing on finishing strongly in Abu Dhabi.”
Norris will look to end his season on a high next week in the final Grand Prix of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
