Formula 1 Mexico City GP
Norris can’t "put a smile on my face” after letting McLaren F1 team down
Lando Norris says he can’t “put a smile on my face” after a mistake in qualifying for the Formula 1 Mexico City GP cost him a shot at a podium in Sunday’s race.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Oct 31, 2023, 8:39 AM
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Norris says he felt like he let down the hundreds of people in his McLaren team who were relying on him to get the job done.
Without a banker lap Norris had one shot at a time in Q1 in Mexico, but he ran wide and had to abort, leaving him in 17th on the final grid.
The mishap came just a couple of races after Norris had a fraught time at the Qatar sprint weekend, when he made costly mistakes in both qualifying and the shootout.
From his lowly grid spot, Norris enjoyed a superb race in Mexico, eventually finishing fifth despite dropping places at the restart. However he was convinced that he should have been on the podium.
When asked by Motorsport if he had thoughts about what might have been, Norris said: "Of course, of course.
"I know people complain at why I'm so disappointed at times. And it's because of days like today. Of course, I'm going to be disappointed, right?
“Like there's a chance to finish on the podium and get another trophy, score more points. Why would I ever be happy about a day like Saturday?
“I moved on very quickly, I moved on better than I did in Qatar. And we put a lot of focus on Sunday. And I think that was evident, and then it paid off. But yeah, I'm never going to be happy after a day like Saturday, right? Because I know what we're capable of doing.
“And when you have a day like today [Sunday], then you think of the ‘what could have beens’? And yeah, there's too many what could have beens at the minute. I just need to tidy some things up, and then things can start to roll."
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Lando Norris, McLaren
Norris acknowledged that his Qatar mistakes were even more disappointing,
"Again, a similar thing, but that was for higher positions, right?,” he said. “And that was twice. It'll be the same for anyone. If anyone was in my position, maybe some people are better than others, but you're never going to be happy when you've messed up, and you let the team down.
“There's 700-800 people who are relying on me to do a good job. So when you don't, how can I put a smile on my face?
“I think that I dealt with it a lot better than I did last time. Mainly because it wasn't for a pole or for a win. But at the same time I moved on, and got my head down onto today. And it all paid off. So I'm happy with that."
Despite his frustrations Norris insisted that had enjoyed the Mexican race.
"I enjoyed the whole thing, apart from my restart,” he said. “I don't know if you saw it, but I probably had to avoid a very big crash, just people coming across, probably not realising that people can be three abreast.
“So I avoided two extremely big crashes, which would have been very nasty. So a bit more self-awareness of some drivers would be great."
Norris remains optimistic about the upcoming sprint event in Interlagos.
"When we've said our pre-weekend estimations, we didn't expect to be great this weekend,” he said. “When I say, it's not great, it's isn't like we expect to be last, we just don't expect to be as competitive as where we have been in Qatar and Japan and things like that.
“But we still expect to race against Ferraris and Mercedes at times, and things like that. It's just we're not looking like pole favourites. That's our 'we're not looking good this weekend.' Which is a good thing.
“But yeah, I think it's going to be another tricky weekend. It's not an easy as a sprint, which makes things more exciting for everyone. Yeah, another tough one to anticipate.
“But I think like we proved today, things turned out better than we were expecting, the pace was extremely strong. And, of course, I hope for the same in Sao Paulo."
Read Also:
Formula 1Norris: Putting F1 rivals in "awkward" spots key to Mexico GP passes
Formula 1Horner “can’t blame” Perez for F1 Mexico Turn 1 move
Formula 1Leclerc had "nowhere to go" in Perez F1 Mexico GP clash
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