Norris satisfied by recovery from “worst start of my career”

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In the round-up: Lando Norris said he made the worst start of his career in the Turkish Grand Prix, and was pleased to finish in the points afterwards.

What they say

Norris finished eighth despite his poor start:

It was the worst start of my career. I didn’t move, initially. Then I hit anti-stall, I don’t know what happened, just everything went wrong.

It was just very difficult to overtake for the first half of the race, I was just stuck behind. Nobody it’s like that in the dry, you’re losing a lot of downforce, a lot of grip. But here because there’s only one line to really use it was very difficult to pass or to do any different lines or anything like that. So you just got a bit boxed in and stuck.

But as soon as I went into clean air the car was really nice to drive. I set fastest lap and had really good pace the last two stints, the two intermediate stints. So I’m happy, I feel I did a good job, we recovered well from yesterday. It’s just a shame I had such a bad start because it could have been something more.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

Davey is mystified by criticism of Lewis Hamilton, after the seven-times world champion said he considers other people more worthy of knighthoods than himself:

I honestly can not comprehend how anybody can hate this guy. He is an amazing sportsman and a fantastic human being.

He’s not a robot, he says what he thinks. He makes mistakes in public, isn’t afraid of them and is willing to apologise…

He really is the ultimate inspiration.
Davey (@Djdaveyp87)

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On this day in F1

  • Born on this day in 1967: Domenico Schiattarella, who started half-a-dozen races for Simtek in 1994 and 1995

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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24 comments on “Norris satisfied by recovery from “worst start of my career””

  1. COTD: I don’t hate Hamilton, but I know I don’t give him the respect he deserves, and it occurred to me yesterday that it might be because Lewis is not controversial (like Schumi and Senna), nor is he often spectacular — but that’s only because he’s so good he makes it look too easy. And the main controversies were in his first year, and don’t even come close to the controversies Schumi had.
    Senna might be Hamilton’s hero, but I think he’s a lot more like Prost.

    1. Mansell says this all the time, Lewis is great but you can’t forget that he has the most support of any driver in history. Lewis does remind me of Prost, but he works like Schumacher and he is bold like Senna. Don’t know if we can make comparisons as such since this is the worst period of dominance in history, no wonder he shines in all categories. Merc even managed to not only get active suspension on their car but also make it illegal for anyone else to pursue active suspension.
      Frankly I’m just happy that it is won, now he’ll sign the contract quick and hopefully we can have 3 normal races. I don’t think Lewis needs any more help to win almost everything.

      1. The Skeptic (@)
        17th November 2020, 3:37

        he has the most support of any driver in history.

        Really? More than Verstappen? More than Schumacher? Hamilton has received a lot of support, but I don’t think it is more than any other in history.

        Yes – it is a pity that there have only been two years in the past 7 with the real possibility of another manufacturer winning either championship (Ferrari in 2018 and 19…. with a slim possibility in 17). The pity in that is that we find it harder to see Hamilton’s brilliance as clearly as when the car is also a cut above all others.

        1. @theskeptic

          If you look at the hardware and the intentional signing of a weaker co-driver during many of his championship years, then I definitely think that Lewis got more support than Verstappen, on average. Not more than Schumacher.

      2. @peartree Any proof on the active suspension claim? I haven’t read or heard anything about that at any point since the beginning of the hybrid era. I agree with @theskeptic in that it’s doubtful he would’ve received more support than any other driver in F1 ever.

        1. @jerejj there isn’t any – that claim is coming from a poster who doesn’t seem to understand what active suspension actually is.

  2. There’s something weird about when you even mildly criticise someone, people seem to assume you “hate” them. Yes Hamilton is a great driver, and I absolutely respect him. But there’s stuff he’s done that I will still criticise regardless of his talent and accomplishments.

    That goes for anyone too, we’re all human and no one is above criticism regardless of what they achieve. Criticism doesn’t equal hatred, I feel that gets forgotten here and everywhere for that matter, pretty often.

    1. @skipgamer

      Welcome to 2020?

    2. @skipgamer Yes incredibly annoying

  3. Paraphrasing that old joke: Hamilton is like Jesus. He is cool, the problem is the fan club.

    1. @paulk Correct. The problem with Hamilton is mostly the fan club, and good comparison with the Jesus fan club.

  4. I don’t personally like hamilton, or his image. It seems he is always trying to say the right things even when he doesn’t mean it. Not hypocrite but sort of not real. Everytime he seems to try to play the media game it eventually blows on his face and occasionally he says something unfiltered and then he does his delete all maneuver and then little later pretends it never happened. How many times has that already happened?

    That being said I think he is the golden standard of race car driver. Naturally talented and quick, no clear flaws, always willing to push the limits but never doing it blatantly as senna and schumacher did. Never gives up, always a fighter, always trying to make things happen. Is good in the wet and in the dry. Can handle pressure well and never makes mistakes that really hurt him. That is him being error free but also calculating and smart. Taking risks where the payoffs and risk are in his favour. And doesn’t even seem to have a need for the car to be very precisely set up for him, can drive around the flaws. And doesn’t have bad weekends.

    And in the end it is not fault that mercedes has built dominant car for him for every season since 2014. He is still getting the best out of it and has won all his team mate battles except one in that car. It is a car where the driver must win everything in it and he is doing just that. He has never driven particlarly slow cars in slow teams but that is not a flaw of him either. He has earned those good seats and he has taken big risks that don’t always pay off.

    So in short I don’t like him as a person but as a racing driver he does everything I like. I hope he does some other form of motorsports as driver after f1 so we can see him in underdog position.

    1. This is what I don’t understand. You acknowledge what a great driver Lewis is but it seems you may be more interested in picking apart his personality and personal life. This isn’t a soap opera!
      We all love racing, right? So what’s the deal with focusing on his personality above all else? He races in a fair and proper manner, is quick as stink and races in perfect harmony with his car. WHY do race fans want to focus on his lifestyle and political leanings more than this?
      I disagree with ALOT of Lewis’ political views and he probably wouldn’t be someone I’d choos
      e to have a pint with but who the hell cares about those things? This is about racing! Why cant people separate Hamilton the racer from Hamilton the personality? (This goes for some of his fans too!)
      Its also not like he is abrasive, rude (Hello Kimi) nor does he do or say anything that does not have positivity at its core. He is a fantastic role model for kids… I mean… what more can he do?
      For me, Lewis Hamilton is the greatest sportsman my country has ever produced and is probably the best F1 driver of all time. Period. I don’t care about anything else. Can I suggest some try to look at this way too?

      1. There is a difference to liking someone as a person and liking him as athlete. For me those two things are separate exactly because it is not soap opera. And I did not focus on his personality. I wrote a lot more about how good driver he is than about his personality. Which I don’t even know, all I know is his public image. Which is part of his racing driver profession. And I wrote what I wrote because it was a sort of response to the cotd which said he is both great person and great athlete.

        Also you seemed to list quite a few of his personality traits as positives for him being a good athlete. Just like your only thing about kimi is a negative remark about his personality. Is it soap opera then after all?

        1. Fair point. What I was trying to portray was that alot of people focus on his personality, political views etc etc when his views and personality are quite pleasant and positive.
          The Kimi reference was valid as he has a very negative public persona which is opposite to Lewis, yet Kimi is loved for that? This is Very strange to me.
          Anyway… crack on. If soap operas are your, or anyone elses thing that’s fine. Good luck to you.

  5. I set fastest lap and had really good pace the last two stints, the two intermediate stints. So I’m happy, I feel I did a good job, we recovered well from yesterday. It’s just a shame I had such a bad start because it could have been something more.

    This is the sort of thing champions do. I hope we get to see him make the occasional appearance on the podium.

  6. So, there’s still a chance for the Vietnamese GP to happen next year, after all. I hope this becomes the case.

    1. Swap Catalunya for Hockenheim and Sochi for Istanbul.

      1. @Dave I’d rather swap Circuit de Catalunya for Algarve, Jerez, or Mugello.

  7. How can anyone who has never met someone or never spent actual time with someone say they do not like someone personally. I think at best u can neither say u like nor dislike someone. Its silly to form relationships with people if you have only seen them on tv. We can only comment on what we see but from a distance. I like Lewis hamilton race craft, his racing skills. Some times i also think he gets somethings wrong, like during an interview. But i have no feeling towards him “personally” because ive never met the guy.

    1. 100% right on … “You don’t know me but you don’t like me” … “The Streets of Bakersfield” – Buck Owens/Dwight Yoakam

  8. Well, I am not Her Majesty’s subject, but still I’ll put my $0.02 in. I definitely do not think that this is the right time for knighting Hamilton, because it would look really silly in retrospect after he wins the eighth one. Then it will be the right time.

  9. Norris satisfied with the result…despite the fact that he taunted Stroll when he missed a penalty only to lose to a Perez winner in the 90th minute later on.

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