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Dejected Norris mulls over Italian GP result: 'not good enough'
- Jeroen Immink
After his masterclass at Zandvoort, Lando Norris failed to cash in on his pole position at Monza. Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc too fast after a clever one pit stop strategy, and triumphed in the Italian Grand Prix. After finishing third behind Leclerc (P1) and teammate Oscar Piastri (P2), Norris looked disappointed.
Norris left disappointed after the race
After the race, Norris looked visibly dejected. "Pretty disappointing, which is obvious from the outside. Charles drove a great race, honestly. Hard to know if we could have done what he did today, but they deserved it. Both Oscar and Charles drove a good race. Disappointing starting from pole to third, especially when I think the pace was very strong, so, a shame, but that's what it is," Norris revealed at the post-race press conference.
In doing so, Norris indicated that he saw no chance to replicate Leclerc's brilliant one-stop strategy. "I mean, we tried. We knew it was a quicker thing to do. But I think we just killed the tyres a little bit too easily. And like Oscar said, when you're in third, it's a much easier position to just try and risk and do such a thing. So, I don't think we can be too disappointed. I think it was a lot riskier for us to try and do it than it was for Charles. He made it work, so hats off to them and Ferrari and himself because the driving part makes a big difference out there. We thought of it and we wanted to do it. We just couldn't today. I think it was clear yesterday we had a good qualifying car. But today our race car was probably not quite good enough," Norris explained.
What are the 'papaya rules'?
During the race, Norris was told by his engineer Will Joseph: 'You can race Oscar, but according to the papaya rules'. Piastri commented on this, saying it was "not something very exciting", but Norris explained what it meant: "Not crashing, that was it," he said bluntly.
The gap between McLaren and Red Bull has shrunk to just eight points, but if Norris wants another shot at the driver's title, he will have to win more races. The gap between him and Verstappen currently stands at 62 points.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon
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