Lando Norris admits he was “caught sleeping” on Lap 1 but says George Russell ‘paid heavy price’ for pushing early
The McLaren driver started on pole but lost the lead to a fast-starting 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen, who secured the inside line for Turn 1 before easing to a comfortable victory in the s🌠ixth and final sprint race of the season.
Norris slipped back to third on the first lap when Russell dived down the inside at Tur🅰n 10, though he was able to re-pass his fellow countryman to regain second on lap five.
“I’ll have to re-watch it, I’m not sure what haওppened,” Norris said of his start. “My reaction was ꦉgood, but then the second phase was not good. That’s all I know for now.
“Tough opening lap I would say, not what I wanted, and then it was difficult to manage the tyres as much as you would want when you💯 are in second. But it was still a good race, still good fun.
“I was caught sleeping a little bit with George. He was pushing a lot on the opening couple of laps and I fe༒lt like maybe he paid the price 🐻quite heavily on lap three and four and five and six and seven and eight… All the way to the end.
“But I tried then to get into DRS of Max. I thought if I could get the opportunity I would try it early on, so I could try and control the race out front in some cleaner air, but never q🐽uite got close enough.
“Struggled a little bit too much in the last five laps of the race to look afte🐼r the tyres as much as what Max was able to do. Nevertheless, a strong race and good points.”
While Norris was disappointed not to be able to challenge Verstappen 💧for the win, he was happy to take the positives from a race that was ultimately dictated by tyre mana🔯gement.
“I was managing in qualifying al🅠ready,” Norris laughed. “These are 𒐪the tyres from quali right.
“It’s a tough circuit, you don’t feel like you can puꦅsh anywhere. It’s kind of always a little bit like this but it feels a little bit like COTA in a way. You do two laps and after that you have no grip and are managing. Again, a management-based race.
“But positives. This wasn’t a circuit we were expecting to be close to the Red Bulls. If you ꦜlook at our data from last year and where we w𝓡ere good and bad, this definitely wasn’t up there with one of the good ones.
“Sometimes we are good in quali and quite poor in the race. But today we were good compared to everyone, except Max. So tough bℱut a good day for us.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matteಌr in the sport.
