Lando Norris admitted he wasn’t proud of taking victory in the Interlagos sprint race after his team mate let him by.
Oscar Piastri led most of the 24-lap encounter from pole position but let Norris through when he was ordered to by McLaren towards the end of the race. McLaren decided to swap the running order of their drivers after Nico Hulkenberg came to a stop on the track and the team feared the Safety Car would be deployed.Norris gained an extra point on his championship rival Max Verstappen thanks to Piastri’s assistance. But afterwards he said that was not the way he wants to win races.
“I’m not proud about it, but we worked well as a team together, so I thank Oscar,” said Norris. “But we’ve done a great job as a team.
“Today was the result that we wanted. Oscar deserved it, but we’re doing what we have to do. So I thank him and the team. We had great pace so I’m looking forward to qualifying and the race tomorrow.”
The McLaren drivers appeared to manage their pace at the front of the field for much of the race, Piastri keeping Norris within DRS range to protect him from Charles Leclerc and Verstappen behind. Norris fell out of range at times but was able to catch back up to his team mate, and he is confident the team were quick enough to beat their rivals.
“It was just kind of like yo-yoing a little bit,” he said. “I would catch up and then drop back and catch up. It’s just the dirty air costs you a lot of lap time.
“I felt [I was] a bit quicker, but I couldn’t pass at the time. But I felt good.
“I think we were clearly quicker than the guys behind. It’s just difficult in a sprint race like this to know how much to manage and push, that kind of thing. But we executed it well.”
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Jack
2nd November 2024, 15:46
Absolutely fantastic that the Brazilian reporter congratulated Oscar for the win in the press conference.
Yes team orders have been around forever but Oscar was very clearly faster and better today and fair play to him not giving up the place immediately which is what Lando obviously expected given all his moaning on the radio.
Oscar proved a point.
Grapmg
2nd November 2024, 16:16
I felt it was a bit of payback form Hungary where Norris waited until the end to give the place back. But also the team waited for a long time before they gave the teamorder. Difficult to judge who was faster as Norris obviously new he would get that place anyway.
Mayrton
2nd November 2024, 19:05
Don’t forget the assistance from Race Control. Excellent delay in VSC call.
dutchtreat (@dutchtreat)
2nd November 2024, 19:32
Team orders, how painful. For the last 3 races Oscar has to let Lando by.