Lando Norris expressed that he is feeling “dreadful” as a blunder in the Sprint race at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix saw the McLaren driver end up in eighth place.
Norris was resigned to starting down in sixth place on the grid as errors on both his timed attempts in SQ3 in Sprint Qualifying cost him a chance to bag pole position.
But while McLaren’s competitive pace in race trim had tipped him to recover that ground, Norris made another mishap on the opening lap which demoted him to ninth.
The Briton had been challenging George Russell through the opening sequence when he dropped a wheel into the grass on the approach to Turn 6 and was sent wide.
That dropped Norris behind Yuki Tsunoda, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Lance Stroll, where he remained until he passed the Aston Martin at Turn 14 with two laps to go.
Asked whether his starting position hampered him, Norris said: “I mean, it certainly didn’t help. The further back you start, the harder it is. I just had a bad first lap.
“I had to run into the grass a bit into Turn 6 and then lost a couple of positions and then it was just difficult to do a lot.
“Yeah, I mean, quali didn’t help but I just wasn’t very good today either.”
Norris frustrated with mistake
Norris admitted that McLaren’s speed over a single lap gives him optimism going into the main qualifying session as he aims to recover from a morale-denting Sprint.
“It’s another session, it’s qualifying, so I’ll be a bit more confident,” he said. “In the minute of the race, I just feel dreadful. So a lot of work to do, but that’s the way it is.”
McLaren on the back foot in Ferrari battle
Oscar Piastri, who lined up third in the sister McLaren, had a more positive race as he overtook Max Verstappen’s Red Bull in the closing laps to salvage second place.
However, the Australian was unable to press on and rival Lewis Hamilton as the seven-time champion opened up a 6.8-second margin to claim his maiden Ferrari win.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella admitted the side has struggled more than Ferrari to control the tyre graining that has been prevalent at the Shanghai International Circuit.
“Well, I think in fairness so far Ferrari and in particular Lewis I think have proven to be very quick,” Stella told Sky Sports F1.
“They deserved the pole position yesterday. They deserved the victory today. So well done to them.
“And like we said in Australia not a surprise. If anything the surprise is the underperformance they had in Australia.
“Having said that, I think probably the pace of Ferrari today was superior to ours, even if having the lead in this kind of racing where you have to control your tyres is a big advantage.
“Let’s see, definitely qualifying will be important for the race.
“I think good learning for us from this Sprint we saw that we definitely struggle with the front tyres, in particular Lando with more traffic.
“And somehow the approach we took to try and go through the graining didn’t seem to work. So I think good learning from this point of view.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton takes maiden Ferrari F1 win in Chinese GP Sprint
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