Lando Norris admitted he made too many mistakes in the Bahrain Grand Prix despite climbing three places to finish third.
The McLaren driver served a five-second time penalty for lining up incorrectly at the start of the race. He also struggled to make progress at times and was told to let Lewis Hamilton overtake him at one stage after passing him outside of the track limits.Norris immediately moved up to third place at the start but it emerged soon afterwards his car was not in the correct position when the race began.
“I didn’t think I was that far forward, I guess,” he said afterwards. “Nothing more than that.”
After serving his five-second time penalty, Norris spent much of the rest of the race trying to make up positions on-track. He came close to passing Leclerc after the Safety Car restart, but fell behind Hamilton’s Ferrari, giving him more work to do.
“It was a tough race, of course,” he said. “I made too many mistakes with the overtakes, the out-of-position. It was a messy race for me and disappointing not to bring home a one-two for McLaren because that would have been lovely at home. So a tough one but still a few positives.”
Norris fought both Ferrari drivers and Russell at different stages. He accused Charles Leclerc of forcing him off the track at one stage but the stewards took no action.
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However after the race Norris said he had no concerns over their tactics. “It was good racing throughout, so no complaints, just good fun,” he said. “Good overtakes, everyone hard and on the limit as it should be, so a good one.”
While Oscar Piastri scored McLaren’s third victory of the season in the race, Norris finished seven-tenths of a second behind Russell. “He did a good job,” Norris admitted. “I thought I would be able to get him.
“I guess he was probably just saving a little bit for the end, which he did well. So he did a good job, Oscar did a good job so congrats to Oscar and the whole McLaren team and I’ll try to step it up for next weekend.”
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2025 Bahrain Grand Prix
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Edvaldo
13th April 2025, 18:51
He makes too many mistakes period.
Easy 2nd place that he somehow found a way to let it slip.
JustSaying
14th April 2025, 0:22
MV would say, “I would have win the race easily from 7th in that MCL39.”
Norris not mature enough. He need to grow up more. He talk too much whenever he failed to deliver, which most by his own mistake.
While Piastri talk less but performed more.
I wouldnt be surprise if Piastri become WDC 2025.
Ferdi
14th April 2025, 7:16
Yes, he is somewhat self destructive, while it needn’t be that way. He has got all to become champion, but it has become clear it will be Oscar in the end that will claim the title this year.
baasbas
13th April 2025, 18:51
Norris was most of the race very busy shooting at his own feet and he still might inherit second place here. Feels a bit off when Piastri showed how to do it, flawlessly and might only have the minimum amount of point difference to show for it
Doggy
13th April 2025, 18:57
It’s ok Lando, somehow RBR managed to make even more.
If last race manage to pull MV closer to staying there , now this one pushed him away even more than he was prior to Japan’s race
akshay.it (@akshay-it)
13th April 2025, 19:01
Norris is cracking under pressure and has to be mentally strong if he wants to be lead driver for McLaren and leading the championship.
MichaelN
14th April 2025, 9:20
Well, he is leading the championship. Piastri is not.
Norris is honest to a fault, and that’s not a weakness. Others have doubts as well, they are also disappointed. Whether they say it or not, the feeling is the same.
Sure, he hasn’t maximised his results. But neither has anyone else. He doesn’t need to be perfect, just better than the second guy.
Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
13th April 2025, 19:03
Norris is starting to come across as a mistake – period.
He seems to be more focused on crying about his poor performances, rather than actually trying to do something about it.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
13th April 2025, 19:09
Norris underperformance watch (will keep it updated throughout the year):
-China sprint – P6 instead of P1 in sprint quali, P8 instead of P1 in sprint, 7 points lost, +1 point for Max
-China race – P3 instead of P1 in quali, P2 instead of P1 in race, 7 points lost
-Japan race – P2 instead of P1 in quali, P2 instead of P1 in race, 7 points lost, +7 points for Max
-Bahrain race – P6 instead of P1 in quali, P3 instead of P1 in race, 10 points lost
Overall: 31 points lost (8 points per weekend), 8 points handed to Max
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
13th April 2025, 19:29
5 seconds for the out of position at the start seems lenient to me. Often gaining 1 position at the start is worth more than 5 seconds, so if you gain an extra place because you started 1 metre too far forward, then the penalty has already more than paid for itself. If Norris had started similarly out of position in Japan and got the lead into turn one, then pulled a 5 second gap before the first pit stop, would it be the same penalty?
HUHHII (@huhhii)
13th April 2025, 19:38
I agree. The potential gain is massive. A drive-through should be a bare minimum penalty from this, possibly even a stop & go penalty.
In next race whoever qualifies P20 should just park their car right to the front at the end of warm-up lap. Easily worth of taking a 5 second penalty.
AlanD
14th April 2025, 0:22
Keith: “so if you gain an extra place because you started 1 metre too far forward, then the penalty has already more than paid for itself”
but he only started a few inches further forward that he should have and I don’t think he could possibly have gained any places as a result. It was still pretty sloppy though. It is a well-rehearsed procedure and they should be getting it right, and if uncertain, they should be erring on the side of caution.
CarWars (@maxv)
15th April 2025, 23:12
If you start 20th just casually drive to the starting line, 5sec penalty.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th April 2025, 19:51
Yeah, he is very much correct on that – he did make a large amount of mistakes and his driving during the race seemed a combination of afraid to mess something up and almost too nonchelantly doing things, like how he got boxed in behind Leclerc and gave Hamilton the oppertunity to pass, how he swerved off track after getting past Hamilton, how he seemed to not really be on it at several attempts to pass Leclerc as well as Russel.
He really should be hugely happy to have finished 3rd and still keep the lead in the championship, as he himself said he was in the post race interviews. Clearly needs to get his head right, just focus on getting the most out of the car and himself instead of stressing out at where they are at right now.
Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
13th April 2025, 21:31
He was very poor. Certainly not the drive of a champion in waiting.
Another race like this one and Piastri will become McLaren’s de facto no.1 driver.
AlanD
14th April 2025, 0:27
I was struck by how calm and matter-of-fact Piastri was, both when he took the chequered flag and after the race. Just his clamness in contrast to Norris is sending out a message that he is the one with the focus to be the lead driver.
Biggsy
13th April 2025, 22:01
This is why I’ll always think of Alonso’s 2006 campaign as one of the best in F1 history. Especially the first half of the season.
His car was the front runner, but probably not as much as this year’s McLaren, and Ferrari was easily faster in certain races. Even being faster in the second half.
Yet, Alonso had something like 84 of possible 90 points after the first half of the season.
It’s easy to think that all you need is a front-running car.
But putting it all together, when the margins are so thin, is much harder than it seems. One slip, and you lose the front-row start. Another slip, and you get 5 sec penalty. Another slip, and you have to give the place back. And so on. It’s all small mistakes, but they add up, and you finish 10 seconds down the road, when you could have won.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
13th April 2025, 22:23
Meanwhile Piastri is getting stronger and stronger. Arguably should’ve won 3 out of 4, maybe even 4 out of 4.
Lando’s too prone to mistakes. He’s not a rookie, yet he’s been a winner for less than a year, yet Oscar seems more composed. He’s Schumacheresque in a way, totaly unfazed by anything.
Edvaldo
14th April 2025, 0:10
In his hands, the car doesn’t even look that dominant. In Piastri’s, it does.
It will be difficult to keep Piastri from attacking him if the situations that happened in Australia and Japan happen again.
The best thing they can do for now is to go with the safest bet to win as many races as possible, like Mercedes used to do. You can’t lose a race like they did in Japan with Norris not trying anything just to keep on his good side; they should’ve let Piastri have a go too.