Lando Norris believes that even if he attempted to recreate his race-ending Las Vegas Grand Prix shunt, there is ‘no guarantee’ that the incident would be replicated.
The McLaren driver crashed out of last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix on Lap 3 when his MCL60 bottomed out over a bump at Turn 11, sending his car into a spin before coming to a rest in the TecPro barriers at the Turn 12.
Norris added that “a combination of things” contributed to his early exit from the race, most notably the fact that his tyres were outside of the ideal operating window after a short spell under Virtual Safety Car conditions.
“The obvious one being there’s quite a big bump there,” Norris explained for the first time having missed his media duties in Vegas. “Then cool tyres so therefore lower ride-heights than what you are normally running with. The first time following a lot of cars through all of this, you have a lot less downforce than what you already have.
“And then a couple of other little things in the background that just made this bump have a bigger effect than what it normally would. I think somehow I must have caught it at a worse angle than normal.
“I always knew there was a bump there but just for some reason the effect was a lot bigger than what it had done previously. So just a little bit unlucky at the same time.”
Following the incident, McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella called for the bump to be flattened out ahead of Formula 1’s return to Las Vegas next year adding that he was “sure all drivers will comment that it’s something that needs to be fixed”.
Norris had been transferred to a local hospital as a precaution after being a “little shaken up” by the impact, but was later discharged after being “advised to just chill out and relax for a few days” before this weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
“I was [feeling] good since I pretty much jumped out of the car. I was a little shaken at first but just because it caught me by surprise so much,” the Briton said of the shunt.
The 24-year-old did not blame the brand-new street circuit for the accident, instead putting the crash down to an imperfect combination of factors rather than the track itself.
“For all of those things to happen again and to cause this is quite rare. Probably if I tried to drive everything the same now, it’s not a guarantee that it would happen again. So if I was 30 centimetres to the right or to the left, maybe it would be different.
“If there was one less car ahead of me, it would have been different. If I clipped the battery a little bit earlier, it would have been different. There’s so many different circumstances.
“I think the track is okay. It’s not the best track I’ve ever driven. If it was higher grip, I think the tarmac made it a lot worse than what every driver would have wanted.
“It plays a big part in the racing, but the racing looked pretty decent. I think almost because it was so tricky and difficult to drive so it’s kind of on the reverse end here.”
Both McLarens were dumped out of Las Vegas qualifying at the first time of asking, but, despite a lowly grid position, team-mate Oscar Piastri was able to recover to a points-finish with P10 and a bonus point for the fastest lap.
Piastri had ran as high as third during the race, but lost ground in the final stanza when he was forced to make an extra pit stop as his strategy had been compromised by the timing of the two safety car interventions.
“Yeah, of course,” Norris responded when asked if he was left frustrated finding himself on the sidelines early on. “I was watching, I tried to watch it as much as I could from the hospital, even in the heli when I was leaving I was like trying to watch everything!
“It’s unfortunate. It looked like a fun race. Chaotic. Turn 1 was pretty chaotic. Quite a bit of carelessness from a lot of people but it looked like a fun race.
“Oscar had good pace, so it’s a shame to have missed out on it but it happens every now and then, crashes. I think I’ve been one of the best drivers in terms of avoiding things, even in the last five years. I think one of my strengths is staying out of trouble. So it’s unfortunate.
“It wasn’t just like a careless mistake. It wasn’t like I locked up and driven into someone. It was just a very unlucky moment. So, yeah, a shame. But it happens that it’s my first crash, really since Spa 2021. So yeah, but it happens to everyone, you know.”
