Lando Norris doubts he will be able to salvage a strong result in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after crashing in qualifying.
The McLaren driver suffered a heavy impact with the wall when he ran wide at turn four and lost control of his car on a kerb. He was taken to the Medical Centre as a precaution afterwards, but has not suffered any injuries.“I’m just disappointed with today,” Norris said after qualifying 10th for the race. “I know I have to look forward to tomorrow and I’ll go now and see my engineers and we’ll look ahead to what we can do tomorrow. We know the car is good, we know the car’s quick.”
His team mate Oscar Piastri was beaten to pole position by Max Verstappen, the pair separated by a hundredth of a second. George Russell was only a tenth of a second behind in third place.
With the gaps between the front-runners so small and passing so challenging at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Norris does not believe he will be able to challenge for a podium finish.
“I’ll go and see my engineers and apologise and then see what we can do for tomorrow, try and put a good plan in place,” he told Sky. “But tomorrow we’re going to need a bit of luck.
“It’s so difficult, it’s almost impossible to overtake around here, so I’m not expecting anything magical.
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“But we have a good car. If we can work our way up to the top five or six, I would be happy.
“Oscar wasn’t on pole, our pace was clearly not that much better than Max. Even George is not that far away, so I think to get close to them is not very realistic, but to try to get to the top five is probably our target.”
Norris’s crash puts his championship lead in peril. He goes into tomorrow’s race three points ahead of Piastri at the top of the standings and eight points ahead of Verstappen.
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Sonny Crockett (@sonnycrockett)
19th April 2025, 20:26
He has the best car but Norris is nowhere near talented enough to be WDC.
If he does achieve that title, he either needs lots of luck or he has to improve massively over the coming months.
As it stands, Max is by far the best driver on the grid.
BasCB (@bascb)
19th April 2025, 20:26
Hm, well, If he starts the race with that in his head, I doubt he will be able to do much good, even if he get’s lucky. The race will be interesting non the less, because it’s likely that Russel and Piastri will be fast enough over the race to make Verstappen have to work for it though.
Yes (@come-on-kubica)
19th April 2025, 20:27
He needs to shut up and get it done.
Mark in Florida
19th April 2025, 20:36
Norris just can’t perform when he needs to. It’s really sad to see a driver of his talent unable to progress that last little bit to be a world champion. Piastri just seems so calm and together and at this point he can start a run at a wdc of his own. What can you say about Max ? Somehow he drags that ill handling car to the front time after time. A classic case of a driver being so much better than the car he drives.
BLS (@brightlampshade)
19th April 2025, 20:44
As I posted in the other thread, all Norris’ chat about it being easy for Max and Lewis when they had top cars – that’s not aged well has it.
He’s a incredibly fast driver, I just don’t think he has that killer instinct, that last little bit to truly challenge for a title.
Keith Campbell (@keithedin)
19th April 2025, 20:47
I imagine he’ll start on the hard tyre and run a long first stint, get himself some clear air after the others do their stops, then if he gets lucky with a safety car or even red flag, he could maybe get onto the podium or even grab a lucky win.
Jojo
20th April 2025, 0:04
That’s could work well and good unless there’s an early safety car. Also it can be easy to drop further positions starting on hard tyres if the others around him start in softer compounds.
Todfod (@todfod)
20th April 2025, 7:56
If McLaren don’t do an alternate strategy for Norris they’re taking away any shot he might have at a podium. Put him on hards.. rub really long, followed by either a fresh set of mediums or softs if they’re feeling risky
Edvaldo
19th April 2025, 20:52
Karma!
Talked down on Vettel, Hamilton and Max’s achievements with great cars.
The great car is now in his hands and he’s looking miserable.
SpaFrancorchamps (@spafrancorchamps)
19th April 2025, 21:25
Vettel and Hamilton had cars with close to a second advantage on their closest rivals. McLaren may have the edge right now, but it is nowhere near dominant. The field is extremely close. Closer than I have ever seen.
Rooie Piet (@axel3304)
19th April 2025, 21:45
Hamilton and Vettel did have dominant cars in some seasons, but they proved themselves with championships or championship runs in seasons when they didn’t. Think 2012 or 2010 for both of them, 2008 for Hamilton, 2015 for Vettel or a lot of other seasons for either of them. Norris hasn’t shown that sort of performance over a season yet.
Edvaldo
19th April 2025, 21:56
It doesnt matter that the field is close if the team with the edge is his team.
In 2008, the year Hamilton won The championship, around round 8 there were 4 drivers separated by 2 points at the top of the standings.
In 2012 when vettel won his third there were different winners in the first 7 races, that’s competitive.
Gasly can be within a sec of Norris but he’s not cause for concern, there’s only 3 guys Norris should worry about, Russell, Piastri and Max. The top 3 for tomorrow, all doing a better job than him.
Neil (@neilosjames)
19th April 2025, 20:55
I can remember when Leclerc was less experienced, and he obviously had exceptional raw pace but also got on a little too well with walls and run-off areas.
Norris is kind of coming off like that at the moment, but with less of the exceptional raw pace part.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
20th April 2025, 5:48
Actions speak louder than words and Norris crashed the car, which should have easily dominated the qualifying. Seems like it’s not that easy job even in dominant car, isn’t it?
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)
20th April 2025, 10:35
I think Norris is fast and competitive but a little too prone to errors or mistakes. He could definitely be a WDC if the circumstances fall for right for him. But I don’t see him being a multiple winner.
People say he doesn’t have the extra 1% or the killer instinct and I think this is probably quite true. He seems to still lack self-belief or that feeling that he is the best and deserves to be there.
baasbas
20th April 2025, 11:33
@phil-f1-21
At the moment I would only agree if one of those circumstances is Piastri taking a sabbatical….