F1 News
Norris beats himself up after Qatar Grand Prix: 'I f***** it up'
Lando Norris is disappointed in himself after finishing 10th at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Brit was challenging Max Verstappen for the race win when he drove too fast during a double-waved yellow flag. Therefore, he received a hefty 10-second stop-and-go penalty that he needed to serve in the closing stages. After fighting back to 10th place, Norris told GPblog and others that he was extremely frustrated with today's result.
Norris: "I f***** it up":
The Englishman secured the fastest lap in the closing stages, meaning that he took home just two points from the race in Qatar. In the paddock of the Lusail International Circuit, Norris beat himself up over the result. "Disappointed, of course. I've let the team down. The team gave me a great car today. Easily the quickest out there. And I f***** it up," Norris began.
Norris regrets his mistake: 'I can only apologise'
The McLaren driver was also upset with the penalty, which stripped away any chance of winning the race. "I don't know what I did wrong. I'm not an idiot. If there's a yellow flag, I know I need to slow down. That's rule number one you learn in go karts, but for some reason, I didn't do that today because I've not seen it, or I've missed it or something, so I have to take it on the chin they think I've done something wrong so I must have done something wrong and I can only apologise for the rest of the year to the team," he said.
Ferrari is now just 21 points behind McLaren with one race to go in Abu Dhabi. The Brit clearly feels as if he's given the Italian team an even better opportunity to jump McLaren in the world championship battle.
Norris praises Verstappen's 'incredible job'
In the paddock, Norris also talked about the Grand Prix winner, Max Verstappen. Instead, he was expecting George Russell and Mercedes to be the team to beat in Qatar, but their inconsistency was highlighted once again. "The team gave me the best car out there today, and I'm very happy and thankful for them to do so. I got a good start, I got past George, I thought George would be our biggest competitor today, and that wasn't the case. Max was, and he did an incredible job. We go in the same way every weekend, wanting to win, wanting to be the best, wanting to be the fastest. I just need to not be an idiot and do what I did today, clearly." Norris concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.