Lando Norris feels he let his McLaren team down after failing to score points on his F1 debut in the Australian Grand Prix.
Norris qualified eight but slipped to 12th in the race after dropping behind Antonio Giovinazzi when he made his pit stop. The Alfa Romeo driver ran a long first stint and several other drivers jumped ahead of Norris by the time he found a way past.“It was too late,” he admitted. “It obviously cost me the positions on Kvyat and Stroll, which obviously put me out of the points in the end.
“I’m a bit annoyed because there was a lot more potential. The car had the pace to be in the top 10. Basically I let everyone down so I need to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“The possibility was there to finish in the points today,” he added, “especially with Ricciardo and Grosjean out, two strong guys, one of them was ahead.”
Asked if he was proud of his first F1 race Norris said: “Of myself, not that much. Of the team I think I’m pretty proud.
“I had a pretty good car today. Not perfect but overall it had enough pace in it to be in the top 10.
“I just made a couple of mistakes that put be outside of it which is why I’m not as happy as what I was yesterday. Just nice to get my first race out of the way. I’d been quite nervous going in but after finishing I’m reasonably happy.”
Norris said he also lost ground at the Norris identified his start as another area where he could have improved. “My initial start was not too bad and then I got a bit too keen in the second phase and had a bit of wheelspin. Still it wasn’t too bad overall, I was just in a slightly wrong position going into turn one and turn three.”
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Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
17th March 2019, 9:47
I like that bit – don’t edit it ;)
He has nothing to feel bad about in my opinion but it is good to see him pushing himself to do more.
Matthijs (@matthijs)
17th March 2019, 9:50
It wasn’t great but it certainly wasn’t bad for a rookie. It’s understandable that he is hard on himself but I think McLaren will or should give him some slack.
lee1
18th March 2019, 8:32
Indeed. I think he did very well for his first race. It is a scary first corner at the best of times let alone when you are in the middle of the pack and you have a car out of control behind you! He made virtually no mistakes, got the car home and learned a lot for his next race. He was let down by strategy more than anything.
F1 in Figures (@f1infigures)
17th March 2019, 10:41
He is too hard on himself I think. He was on the wrong/more risky strategy.
bosyber (@bosyber)
17th March 2019, 10:54
Yeah, good that he looks at what he can do better, but in the end no one who stopped early profited, mainly due to Gio being a roadblock.
Chaitanya
17th March 2019, 11:30
He didnt put a foot wrong, he kept his head calm in that battle with Giovinazzi and didnt make any hasty decision. Both albon and norris were impressive today rookies(didnt see much of russell)
Sviat
18th March 2019, 9:26
Russell lost 2 laps to the leaders. Yet, it’s definitely a bad driver. Kubica is even worse as he lost 3 laps.
Concerning Norris, how can losing be impressive? He lost 4 positions (and was actually very lucky not to finish 16th starting 8th) because he was slow and uncompetitive. And he wasn’t driving a slow car: he was in the pack with Renault, Sauber, and Toro Rosso. So that’s how you define a good driver – the one that loses?
PS: Norris is the same he was last year in F2: driving slowly, doing nothing.
Sonny Crockett
17th March 2019, 12:27
I think it’s good that he’s being (unnecessarily) hard on himself.
It shows that he has the character and fight to succeed in F1.
Hopefully Norris’ evolution as a driver will coincide with McLaren’s return to form over the next few years.
David BR (@david-br)
17th March 2019, 15:23
+1
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
17th March 2019, 20:26
I admit I don’t follow the lower formulae much but so far I’m liking what i see and hear from Lando in F1. Full of praise and respect for the team and showing that he is willing to be critical of himself, despite a very respectable performance in his first F1 race (stand out qualifying result even if the race didn’t work out for him). Looks like has a mature head on his shoulders and I’m looking forward to see how he progresses this season.
OOliver
17th March 2019, 12:52
It was a team decision to pit. I don’t think he should blame himself.
Giovinazzi was holding everyone up for the sake of Kimi and it worked for Sauber
Ray
17th March 2019, 13:09
Poor kid, he’ll be hearing “Alonso would have brought home points” every time this happens.
Hope he holds up emotionally.
Sviat
18th March 2019, 9:32
Well, that’s the problem of glory hunters who, without thinking or knowing anything about what driver this Lando Norris is, started claiming that “Norris did an Alonso in that car”. Maybe, they shouldn’t judge to soon. Alonso was 5th last year starting 11th.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
17th March 2019, 14:51
Nah he did great. Too hard on himself, for a debut race he looked like he’d always been there. Impressive stuff.
Russell must be sad watching him from the back though.
georgeboole (@)
17th March 2019, 14:54
Bad luck or even bad timing for a pit stop. At least that McLaren seems to be on (midfield) pace. Promising.
CareyPatrick (@careypatrick)
17th March 2019, 16:46
I was very impressed with Norris, especially in qualifying. If he could have found a quick way around the Sauber, he could have scored points. But, he kept it in the race and finished, which makes this a big win for McLaren, especially with Sainz out.
Martin Collyer
18th March 2019, 6:15
We were spectating on turn 4 at Albert Park, sounded like he was short shifting, to protect the engine presumably in view of what happened to Sainz’s motor.