Norris believes he could have beat Piastri: "My pace was definitely better"
General
Lando Norris took a fantastic P3 at the Qatar Grand Prix but believed he could have performed better throughout the weekend at the Losail Circuit.
During the race, Norris also thought he could have finished higher than third and, therefore, ahead of his teammate Oscar Piastri, who took P2. McLaren wanted to "hold position" with Piastri and Norris, but Norris came over his team radio and said, "Why do you want to do that? We have a big gap. I'm clearly a lot quicker."
After, in the press conference, Norris again commented on the team orders, saying that his pace was "a bit better".
"Whenever I got closer towards Oscar, the dirty air was quite a big struggle. Even with the back markers, you got within three seconds or something and you immediately lost time. Around a circuit where it's so much about load and these long corners, as soon as you have a bit of dirty air, it's a big struggle.
"So, I think my pace was definitely a bit better, but it's hard to know. Oscar's done a very good job over the weekend. He's beaten me, and he's been extremely quick. He's made less mistakes and he's come out on top, so hats off to him."
Norris not happy with his inconsistency
Also during the press conference, Norris still thought he could have done better, but he was still pleased with another podium in this 2023 season. "I feel like I've missed out and didn't do what I should have done and achieve what I should have achieved. But I'm definitely so happy with the P3. I can't take anything away from that. But in the back of my head, I know I should have done more this weekend."
Norris continued, also displeased at his inconsistency. "If I want to be honest with myself, I should have fought for two pole positions this weekend and potentially two victories. I know it's a big thing to say, but I think things would have gone well if I just did a better job and didn't make the mistakes I did over the last two days, which is why I've been so frustrated because I knew what was on the cards, what we were able to potentially achieve, and that was victories both yesterday and today.
"So I feel like it was a weekend of missed opportunities for myself to take the fight to Max and at least give ourselves that opportunity. So I don't know, there's good things and bad things."