Lando Norris says his fourth place at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend was just a blink of an eye after a strong race that saw him finish in the top three, clinching the title.
McLaren made the wrong decision to leave both drivers on track under an early safety car, with the remaining drivers pitting to save time and allowing Max Verstappen to win the race. Norris’ lead has shrunk to 12 points after the championship leader was unable to overtake Carlos Sainz, but he is confident about his performance as the title is still in his hands after seven previous races where he finished in front of Oscar Piastri.
“The car was good. Oscar finished second and was very fast,” Norris said. “I have nothing to complain about. The second car is always a little worse, so they strategically put me in there. It wasn’t even the fact that it was the second car. We shouldn’t have done what we did. It’s simple.”
“There’s nothing I can do about it. Obviously it wasn’t the best day for us, it wasn’t the best weekend. But I don’t know if anyone saw that my results up to that point were great. So I put myself in this position and I’m still happy.”
“Today wasn’t the best day for us, it wasn’t the best weekend for me in terms of driving and putting things together. But that’s life. Everybody has a bad weekend. I’ll take it on the chin, we’ll take it on the chin and let’s see what we can do next weekend.”
Norris admitted McLaren’s mistake during the safety car stage was a result of considering the potential loss of race time for him and said he could not simply reverse the decision and pit.
“Maybe[I should have followed Verstappen into the pits]but we both should have done it. I would have lost either way. I would have been double stacked and potentially lost time. I think if I had had a little bit more time maybe I wouldn’t have lost the position.”
“But there are things that we go and talk about and consider. I also have to trust that the team is making the right decision, and that’s what I had to do.”
