F1 News
Norris "NOT PROUD" to win Brazil Sprint thanks to McLaren's team orders
During the Sprint event in Brazil, McLaren completed the move many advised them to do so: help Lando Norris with team orders. After the Australian let his teammate past at Interlagos, the drivers reacted to the 'maneouvre' during the press conference in Sao Paulo.
Thanks to this move and Max Verstappen later received a five-second penalty, Norris could gain three valuable points on the Dutchman. "I mean, I think we just demonstrated what the short and long-term objectives are. I mean, the long-term objective is to win everything we can. So I think that's quite clear. And in the short term, there's two championships at stake and I'm really only involved in one. So that's where I sit with it," Piastri said following the Sprint.
Norris not happy with winning this way
Norris could only agree with his teammate. "Oscar said it well. We've helped each other over the last two years for different things. I think it's one of our strengths is we work very well as a team. I don't think there's probably any other team on the grid that work as well. So I'm proud about all of that."
He continued: "But yeah, like Oscar said, we're fighting for a Constructors’ and we're fighting for a Drivers’. And we want to help the whole team achieve both of these goals. Obviously, from a driver's point of view, it puts us in a slightly different position. I'm not proud to win a race like I did today, so I'm almost happy you [the journalist] congratulated Oscar on the win. It's not how I want to... yes, I'm not proud of it, basically," explained the British driver.
"I’ll work hard to go and do a better job in quali later and put myself in a better position for the race. We want to avoid it as much as we can but at the same time, you know, we sign up for this. We have to work together as a team. We get told what to do. We have a boss. And, yeah, we do the best we can to help each other out," Norris concluded in Sao Paulo.
Ahead of qualifying that will take place later today, Verstappen now leads Norris by 44 points in the drivers' championship. Norris has four Grands Prix and another Sprint in Qatar to overcome that difference. Moreover, the Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for tomorrow's Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
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