Norris apologises to McLaren for his race-deciding mistake
Having lost out due to a yellow-flag incident, McLaren driver Lando Norris has apologized to the Woking-based outfit for making a crucial mistake in Qatar that prevented him from fighting for the victory.
McLaren were favourites heading into the Qatar Grand Prix, with the Lusail International Circuit playing to the strengths of their MCL38 due to its long-radius medium-speed corners.
The team delivered in sprint qualifying and took an impressive one-two finish in the Qatar F1 Sprint before losing out in the main qualifying in which Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri only finished third and fourth behind Max Verstappen.
The British driver jumped to second at the start, and disappeared with Verstappen into the distance, but a yellow flag incident meant that he was hit with a ten-second stop-and-go penalty. After serving the penalty, he rejoined the field in last place, but showing eye-catching performance in the final stages of the race, he bounced back to take the last championship point.
Reflecting on his race in which he displayed eye-catch performance on both the medium and the hard compound, Norris has has apologized to the Woking-based outfit for making a crucial mistake in Qatar that prevented him from fighting for the victory.
"The team gave me a great car today, it was the quickest out there, so I'm disappointed we haven’t been able to secure maximum points in Qatar. I know the rules around Yellow Flags, but I missed it. I have to take that on the chin. I can only apologise to the team.
"We have one more weekend to go now and we’ll head to Abu Dhabi with the same mindset as any other weekend, and that’s wanting to win."
His team-mate Oscar Piastri appeared to struggle to match Norris' pace all through the weekend, but the penalty for the Briton meant that he gained a position to finish in P3.
"I am happy with that," the Australian started. "I enjoyed the race and it’s a mega track, so it’s nice to come away with another podium. There were some good battles on track, but it was challenging as the cars at the front seemed to have very similar pace to each other.
"It was tough to get into DRS, and then far enough into DRS to overtake but it was still fun, nonetheless. We were just unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but that’s racing. It’s going to take everything we’ve got to seal the deal next week. It’s going to be an exciting one," concluded Piastri.
