Norris had moved ahead after a brilliant performance in Friday’s wet qualifying session, but everything went wrong at Turn 1 of the sprint race after he fell short in a hill battle. alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Having lost ground off the grid, he found himself on dirt on the outside of the long first right-hander. And, after instantly losing grip, he spun out and fell back in the standings.
Although he managed to recover and finish sixth, Norris clearly felt he should have done better.
Speaking on team radio after the checkered flag, Norris said: “Yeah, I screwed up Turn 1, it’s my fault. I just completely lost the car, so sorry. I should have scored more points than that.
But McLaren boss Andrea Stella quickly said that instead of the driver apologizing, it was the team that should apologize for not giving him a car better able to fight for the title. victory.
“He certainly doesn’t need to apologize because we need his apology [for the car]”Stella told Sky Sports F1.
“He knows he could have done better, but we appreciate maximum effort and we work as a team. And it also gives an idea of the kind of person he is.
“He feels, I’m sure, like ‘I’ve let the team down’. [But] don’t worry, Lando, you didn’t disappoint the team. We need to give you a better car and then everything will become much easier, rather than always being at the limit to achieve important results.
“So it’s more up to us, and the men and women at McLaren are working hard to improve the car.”
While Norris probably would have had a chance to battle Hamilton for the lead early on if he had had a better first corner, he doubted he would have ultimately been able to hold off eventual winner Max Verstappen.
“Yeah, no chance,” he replied when asked if victory was on the table. “Maybe it could have been a position or two higher. But that was all.
“I think the Mercedes had a very good pace today. George [Russell] was catching up with us quite quickly and Lewis had good pace as well. And then the Red Bulls and even the Ferraris, honestly.
“I managed to survive just thanks to the DRS. If I didn’t have DRS, I would have been behind them for a long time. Our race pace was quite shocking today, which we expected given the condition of the track and the limitations we have on the car.
Norris had moved ahead after a brilliant performance in Friday’s wet qualifying session, but everything went wrong at Turn 1 of the sprint race after he fell short in a hill battle. alongside Lewis Hamilton.
Having lost ground off the grid, he found himself on dirt on the outside of the long first right-hander. And, after instantly losing grip, he spun out and fell back in the standings.
Although he managed to recover and finish sixth, Norris clearly felt he should have done better.
Speaking on team radio after the checkered flag, Norris said: “Yeah, I screwed up Turn 1, it’s my fault. I just completely lost the car, so sorry. I should have scored more points than that.
But McLaren boss Andrea Stella quickly said that instead of the driver apologizing, it was the team that should apologize for not giving him a car better able to fight for the title. victory.
“He certainly doesn’t need to apologize because we need his apology [for the car]”Stella told Sky Sports F1.
“He knows he could have done better, but we appreciate maximum effort and we work as a team. And it also gives an idea of the kind of person he is.
“He feels, I’m sure, like ‘I’ve let the team down’. [But] don’t worry, Lando, you didn’t disappoint the team. We need to give you a better car and then everything will become much easier, rather than always being at the limit to achieve important results.
“So it’s more up to us, and the men and women at McLaren are working hard to improve the car.”
While Norris probably would have had a chance to battle Hamilton for the lead early on if he had had a better first corner, he doubted he would have ultimately been able to hold off eventual winner Max Verstappen.
“Yeah, no chance,” he replied when asked if victory was on the table. “Maybe it could have been a position or two higher. But that was all.
“I think the Mercedes had a very good pace today. George [Russell] was catching up with us quite quickly and Lewis had good pace as well. And then the Red Bulls and even the Ferraris, honestly.
“I managed to survive just thanks to the DRS. If I didn’t have DRS, I would have been behind them for a long time. Our race pace was quite shocking today, which we expected given the condition of the track and the limitations we have on the car.