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Norris's race engineer had to calm him down because of Verstappen
- Savannah Lenz
Lando Norris had Max Verstappen in his rearview mirrors the entire time during the Australian Grand Prix. Afterwards, Norris commented that he had never been in a similar situation before and so had quite a bit of trouble keeping Verstappen behind him. Here's what he said.
Norris explained, "At the very beginning, when it was wettest, Max was just as quick as us. As it dried, we got a lot quicker, and Red Bull started to struggle. So, I knew Max would be quicker in those last few laps, and I knew he would risk more because there were only a few laps left." He added, " I did make a mistake at Turn 6 – I just put a wheel on the gravel and lost all my momentum and drive. Max got within DRS, and DRS really helped him stay there"
Norris on the stress of staying ahead of Verstappen
After the race Norris said, "It's tough because it's not just the pressure of him being there, it’s the pressure of knowing that if I put a wheel too close to a white line on entry, I’m off. If I clip the kerb wrong in Turn 6, I’m off. If I dip a wheel in the gravel, I get a bad run and he's past. There are so many little things that can go wrong. Just trying to concentrate on not locking up, not rear locking, not hitting the kerbs wrong, but still trying to go quicker than before because the guy behind is doing the same."
"It was stressful. I'm not going to lie. I was checking my mirrors a lot. Even Will came on the radio and told me to chill out a bit. He knows, and Jarv, my performance engineer, knows very quickly from my driving when I’m pushing too much or when I’m pushing the entries too much. They're quick to jump in and say, "Do this better" or "Watch out for that" because they know what I struggle with. Especially in a situation like that."
The McLaren driver admitted, "That situation was new for me. I’ve never led a race with five laps to go with Max behind me, trying to put me under pressure, in these conditions. Maybe Max has had that a few times – he’s raced against Lewis a lot and can deal with it better than I can. For me, it was a first. So, it was about seeing how I handled it when I got there. I'm happy I got through it and stayed calm. It’s something I improved from last year."
This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
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