Lando Norris admitted he has made too many mistakes so far this weekend after qualifying third on the grid for the Chinese Grand Prix.
He was comfortably quickest in the single practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit yesterday. However he only qualified sixth for the sprint race after two scruffy laps in SQ3.He fell to eighth in the race after running wide at turn six on the first lap of the race. That result allowed Max Verstappen to cut his championship lead to just two points.
He rebounded in qualifying for the grand prix, setting a new track record during Q2. But he couldn’t beat his time in the final phase of qualifying, and his team mate Oscar Piastri and George Russell capitalised, limiting Norris to third on the grid.
Nonetheless Norris felt he did a better job in qualifying for the grand prix. “It’s tight and close but it was a much better job than we did yesterday – and I did yesterday,” he said. “The car was feeling much better and I was feeling definitely more comfortable.”
However he admitted there were “still too many mistakes from my side.”
“I’m not as comfortable as I was in Australia,” explained Norris, who won from pole position in Melbourne. “It’s just tricky, but it is for everyone, and I just haven’t done the best job. Oscar has done a very good job.”
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While Piastri suggested the team had made the wrong choice of run plan for sprint race qualifying – doing two runs instead of one – Norris said he simply hadn’t done a good enough job. “I don’t think it was so much run plan,” he said. “I just think we didn’t get as much out of the car yesterday.
“I obviously locked up and went straight. The car’s easily quick enough for pole, so I just did a terrible job yesterday.”
Teams have encountered far more graining than they expected in Shanghai, due to the new track surface and Pirelli’s mandated increase in tyre pressures. Norris said he has found that particularly difficult to cope with.
“Oscar’s shown great pace, I definitely haven’t, especially [on] the race pace. Whenever we struggle with front graining, it’s something I just struggle with a lot personally, so it’s difficult for me.
“It’s therefore been a difficult weekend just trying to deal with those things. It’s something I’m not strong enough in. I’ve got a long, long night ahead of me to sit down and go through the data and see what I can improve for tomorrow.”
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2025 Chinese Grand Prix
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DaveW (@dmw)
22nd March 2025, 13:32
Performing at this level in F1 right now has to be mentally brutal. The top five is a couple tenths at most. It’s all about tire prep and timing and making zero mistakes. Then you touch gravel slightly and that’s 2 grid spots and reporters are coming at you Ike you put the car in the wall. He has to find that center this is his big chance.
Doggy
22nd March 2025, 13:38
I think this true for any other sport too. That is what separate the good from the great.
Look at Jordan, Rossi, Bolt, Phelps, Messi, Ronaldo, etc etc career
PeteB (@peteb)
22nd March 2025, 13:42
Way too many mistakes… You just don’t see the top guys making that amount of mistakes on a reasonably consistent basis.
It made me laugh because we saw Hamilton get off the line and immediately cover the inside of the track – I was just thinking about how there’s no chance Norris would have done that. He’d have left a gap and Max would have won the sprint…. It was at that exact moment that Norris put a tyre on the grass and lost 2 positions.
I genuinely can’t think of another driver I’ve seen in F1 who is worse at starting races…
DaveW (@dmw)
22nd March 2025, 14:04
That was extremely close. Hamilton knew that he either shut the door off the line and deal with a possible touch or get run off the road at t1/t2. It took him a while to learn how to race Verstappen but he didn’t forget.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2025, 18:20
I think he did well to shut the door, verstappen goes for it if you give him space, I forgot about the fact they were starting next to each other during the race.
Edvaldo
22nd March 2025, 14:48
If it wasn’t for Piastri and their car being too good to save him a point yesterday after a disastrous first lap he wouldn’t even be leading the WDC right now.
Norris can win a championship, but he’s not a killer to pile up wins at every opportunity he’s given. He’s not that consistent.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
22nd March 2025, 18:21
And if the cars are pretty close like we’re seeing, I’d place my odds on verstappen for wdc.
BMW P85 V10
22nd March 2025, 19:32
I doubt he has the car to do so. (from what I’ve seen until now). He has the consistency, but as it looks right now Piastri and Norris should mess up big time to not secure a WDC for either one of them.
Lets see what happens if the pressure builds up and other teams are constantly in the fight to.
normality78 (@normality78)
23rd March 2025, 5:13
I would to agree with you. Too many mistakes, if he want win WDC
RH
23rd March 2025, 11:33
Skill issue.