Lando Norris, McLaren, Albert Park, 2019

Norris says “I let everyone down” after failing to score

2019 Australian Grand Prix

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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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17 comments on “Norris says “I let everyone down” after failing to score”

  1. Norris said he also lost ground at the Norris

    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.

  2. 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.

    1. 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.

  3. He is too hard on himself I think. He was on the wrong/more risky strategy.

    1. 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.

  4. 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)

    1. 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.

  5. 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.

    1. 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.

  6. 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

  7. Poor kid, he’ll be hearing “Alonso would have brought home points” every time this happens.
    Hope he holds up emotionally.

    1. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

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