Fans were baffled by Lando Norris’ performance in the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Lando Norris has disclosed that because of the tremendous pressure from third-place finisher George Russell, McLaren “didn’t want him to” give Oscar Piastri his sprint race victory at the Qatar Grand Prix.
While his teammate was fighting desperately to keep Russell behind him, the 25-year-old was cruising at the front of the field. Throughout the entire race, Norris maintained the team game by dropping off to give Piastri DRS and safeguard the team’s one-two finish.
Then, as the cars came around the last bend, Norris released the throttle. His deceleration was precisely timed, allowing Piastri to win while holding Russell at bay.
The McLaren pit wall would have been perspiring in their seats because the margins were so narrow. After the race, Norris gave an explanation for his choice, saying: “It was probably a little closer than what I was hoping for, but I had planned to do it since Brazil.
It’s simply what I believed to be optimal. It’s most likely a little dubious. Despite the team’s warnings, I believed I could get away with it, and we did.
I don’t mind, really. My goal is to win [Grand Prix] races and a championship, not sprint races, but that hasn’t gone as planned. However, I did the best we could, and I’m excited for tomorrow.
Piastri and Norris won’t be much affected by the swap individually, but McLaren’s ability to maintain their one-two finish was crucial to their battle with Ferrari for the Constructors’ Championship.
“We scored one-two, that’s what we were aiming for today,” Norris continued. We are pleased that we have the most points possible. As a team, we’re content, we did everything flawlessly, and I believe the tempo was appropriate.
We wanted to keep the others behind, but I think I could have pushed a little bit harder than I was. The most important thing is that we did our job.
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