Norris on stress moment in Australia: 'It could have all gone wrong'
F1 News
McLaren's Lando Norris won the season opener in Melbourne, the Australian Grand Prix, albeit not without experiencing a few heart-in-mouth moments along the way first.
After the drivers stopped to put dry tyres on, rain made a shock appearance at Sector 3, which saw Norris and teammate, Oscar Piastri, go off the track on the exit of turn 12, a very stressful moment for the Briton.
"This is a tough one. Max was on the Mediums, myself and Oscar on the Hard. So, I think we knew if it started to rain, we'd struggle more than Max. At that time, we still didn't have all the temperature in the tyres. Also, being first, you just take the risks – how much do I push it?'"
The McLaren driver continued, "You see some drizzles of rain on the visor, and I got a call from Will saying that it's drizzling a bit in the last sector. But you don't know if you have to slow down five kilometres an hour, 10, 11. If you slow down 11, maybe it's perfect; if you slow down 10, maybe you're off."
Norris on stressful moment
Of course, with everything happening and the stakes being as high in what could have been effectively a race defining moment, as it was for Piastri, the pressure piles up. "Obviously, I went in a bit quick for how much rain was coming down and I’ve completely gone off. I’ve managed to just about get it stopped for the corner, but I looked in my mirror as I was off and saw Oscar go through the gravel as well, and Max then catching [up].
"It’s a very stressful moment because it all could have gone wrong there. If I stayed on track, I think Max probably would have passed me because he was on the Medium and probably in a better window than I had with the Hards."
Finally, the Brit compared the race to another Grand Prix on the calendar: "We boxed, and then half the track was completely dry, and half of it was wet – kind of like a Spa kind of race. You don't know how much to push in the dry bit because you destroy the Inters quickly.
"I think that's why I struggled a bit at the end of the race – my Inters were just a little destroyed from when it was still dry. A lot of things to factor in, so to get it all right and deal with the stress in a good way was very nice."
This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut.
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