Norris finished second at Shanghai after benefiting from a safety car period to make his only pit stop and move ahead of Sergio Perez, but then managed to keep his hard tires alive to comfortably control the gap to the Mexican.
The result was a surprise for McLaren at one of its inherently worst circuits, as although it was able to keep up appearances with a strong qualifying performance, it struggled with tire degradation in the race. Saturday morning sprint.
Norris started the sprint on pole, but after slipping at the start he fell back to sixth, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and behind both Ferraris.
These difficulties made him bet with race engineer Will Joseph that he would fall back up to 35 seconds behind Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Instead, he finished 10 and 20 seconds ahead, respectively.
“I bet how far behind the Ferraris we would finish today and I thought 35 seconds and I was very wrong,” laughed Norris, after trailing winner Max Verstappen by 13 seconds for his 15th career podium.
“I’m happy to be wrong about myself and my own bets. I’m happy for the whole team, they deserved it.
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 2nd position, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, 3rd position, Paul Monaghan, chief engineer, Red Bull Racing, on the podium
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“Today it went well, I don’t know why. I really didn’t expect it to be the kind of race we had today.
“But I felt comfortable, I was able to manage the tires a lot, which was a much easier task than what I did yesterday. And I could just push, the car felt good and comfortable .”
Norris said he was surprised by Ferrari’s relative lack of performance in China as well as their ability to separate the two Red Bulls, earning him the fans’ ‘driver of the day’ award.
“I was surprised by a lot of things, Ferrari’s lack of pace today, our good pace compared to Red Bull, which was so surprising. So I wasn’t expecting today at all,” he explained.
“I prepared everything to go home early and not get on the podium, so it’s a pleasant surprise.
“It shows that the team has done a good job. We are working hard and it is paying off.”
Norris finished second at Shanghai after benefiting from a safety car period to make his only pit stop and move ahead of Sergio Perez, but then managed to keep his hard tires alive to comfortably control the gap to the Mexican.
The result was a surprise for McLaren at one of its inherently worst circuits, as although it was able to keep up appearances with a strong qualifying performance, it struggled with tire degradation in the race. Saturday morning sprint.
Norris started the sprint on pole, but after slipping at the start he fell back to sixth, ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri and behind both Ferraris.
These difficulties made him bet with race engineer Will Joseph that he would fall back up to 35 seconds behind Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Instead, he finished 10 and 20 seconds ahead, respectively.
“I bet how far behind the Ferraris we would finish today and I thought 35 seconds and I was very wrong,” laughed Norris, after trailing winner Max Verstappen by 13 seconds for his 15th career podium.
“I’m happy to be wrong about myself and my own bets. I’m happy for the whole team, they deserved it.
Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 2nd position, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing, 3rd position, Paul Monaghan, chief engineer, Red Bull Racing, on the podium
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
“Today it went well, I don’t know why. I really didn’t expect it to be the kind of race we had today.
“But I felt comfortable, I was able to manage the tires a lot, which was a much easier task than what I did yesterday. And I could just push, the car felt good and comfortable .”
Norris said he was surprised by Ferrari’s relative lack of performance in China as well as their ability to separate the two Red Bulls, earning him the fans’ ‘driver of the day’ award.
“I was surprised by a lot of things, Ferrari’s lack of pace today, our good pace compared to Red Bull, which was so surprising. So I wasn’t expecting today at all,” he explained.
“I prepared everything to go home early and not get on the podium, so it’s a pleasant surprise.
“It shows that the team has done a good job. We are working hard and it is paying off.”