Norris chides critics: 'They have no idea what it's like in the car'

Lando Norris has spoken up for his fellow drivers who made mistakes at the end of the Australian Grand Prix. Speaking to The Race, the Briton addresses the turbulent final stage and makes it clear that, in his opinion, the drivers were not to blame.

The final phase of the Australian Grand Prix was unsettled, to say the least. After a second red flag, the race was restarted, but things immediately went wrong again at the first corner. Carlos Sainz made contact with Fernando Alonso, causing the Aston Martin driver to spin. Pierre Gasly overshot the corner, and when he returned to the track, he collided with his teammate Esteban Ocon. And Logan Sargeant did not manage to bring the speed of his Williams back enough, ending his own race and that of Nyck de Vries in one go. After the race, it rained criticism from many a fan and commentator on several of these drivers.

According to Norris, this is completely unjustified. Earlier, the McLaren driver pointed to the Pirelli tyres as the main culprit for the chaos. Now he also criticises those who blame the various drivers. "Nothing against them, but they don’t know what’s going on inside the car," Norris said, defending his colleagues. "It's just difficult. I wouldn’t say it’s just clumsy from everyone. You’re racing, and there’s no grip, simple as that."

Norris was one of the few winners from the chaos at the end of the race. The McLaren driver got through the second restart unscathed, and the crash of Gasly and Ocon and Sainz's time penalty eventually pushed Norris through to sixth place. However, according to the Briton, things could have gone very differently, with him mainly blaming race control.

"I feel like I could have been so unlucky for no reason," Norris reflected. "I easily could have crashed with Hulkenberg at the end because you’ve got people off and suddenly swerving and things like that. We come all the way to Australia, it's so much hard work, drive 55 or 56 laps perfectly, but because the race organisers try to put on a show, everything can get taken away from you all of sudden."