Windsor slams Norris after Bahrain: 'Lando completely blew it'

07:24, 14 Apr

byNorberto Mujica

Former F1 team manager, Peter Windsor, commends Oscar Piastri on his Bahrain Grand Prix win, and criticises Lando Norris for his drive in Sakhir.

"You didn't see it very often on the TV cameras, but out there, controlling the race, incredible consistency on a pace that was well below his limit, that is for sure, Oscar Piastri won the Bahrain Grand Prix with complete ease," said Windsor in his Youtube channel.

"Just a fabulous drive to back up the pole position he had yesterday," he added before moving on to the Australian's teammate, Norris, who would not get the same praise as Piastri, despite his recovery drive from P6 to P3.

Lando 'blows' Bahrain GP win chances

"Good drive from a disappointing P6, qualifying where he did. Helped in the initial launch by both Ferraris deciding to start on medium tyres. But having said that, Lando blew it completely by stopping in the correct box for the start, but then creeping forward and braking again just before the red lights came on, which earned him a five-second penalty. Quite lenient penalty, really."

As the British McLaren driver made his way up the order, he starred in some on-the-limit tussles with the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and George Russell. Windsor noticed that Norris didn't do as good a job as he should have, given the superiority of his machinery.

"He spent a lot of time, perhaps too much time, behind some cars, Charles Leclerc particularly. There was one moment when he had to give position back to Charles (Hamilton, ed.) There was a lot of late braking into turn one, a lot of running wide into Trun 1, instead of just thinking that the pass is probably going to be on the DRS straight between Turns 3 and 4."

Windsor sees the thorn in Norris' side in the F1 title battle

With the clear advantage McLaren have on the rest of the field, Windsor sees the only realistic challenger to Norris' hopes of becoming world champion in the other side of the McLaren garage.

"If you think about McLaren, first four races, two very, very impressive wins by Oscar Piastri. So for Lando Norris, you come away thinking after Bahrain, 'lucky to get P2 there, or P3, whatever it's going to be, after what I did in qualifying.'

"And he never looked as impressive as Oscar during the race either. Never. And that is now a real thing for Lando Norris. As I've been saying from day one, the biggest problem for Lando in winning the World Championship this year in what is unquestionably the best car, is beating his teammate. It's not everybody else, it's beating his teammate"