2023-07-02 08:10:19
While he seemed to be in the best position to take advantage of the battle between the Red Bull drivers, Lando Norris lost a lot of places on the first lap. Explanations.
Benefiting for this Austrian GP from the McLaren MCL60 with new features, Lando Norris made good use of it by qualifying fourth for this Sunday’s race and even third for Saturday’s sprint.
Author of a good start during the latter, he was in the front row to witness the tough fight between the pilots Red Bull. At turn 3, he even seemed in a position to be able to take full advantage of the fact that Max Verstappen directed his teammate off the track without worrying regarding the ideal trajectory. However, the trouble started then.
Victim of a slight slip as he was going to infiltrate the interior, the Briton lost control of his MCL60 for a time and almost hit Verstappen. However, by avoiding this contact and being at very low speed, he then saw his anti-stall come on when exiting the turn.
“I just slipped a bit and ended up with the anti-stall on. […]”he explained for Sky Sports. “It cost me everything. I don’t know why it happened. My turn 3 was ok I think. It was obviously very tight, but the anti-stall kicked in and I lost everything I was practically at a standstill [à la réaccélération] and I watched everyone pass me.”
Then asked by Motorsport.com on the subject, he explained: “It was more that I lost the rear when turning in the corner, just because the tires were cold and it was a bit difficult to get the inters working straight away.
Lando Norris in front of Charles Leclerc.
“So I lost the rear end, slid further down the track and nearly hit them [les Red Bull]. To avoid this, I had to brake once more and, at such a slow speed with hardly any grip, I locked up the rear tires a bit, causing the anti-stall. It was more bad luck than a problem, as far as I know. And that’s literally it. I think it was just bad luck at the time.”
“I didn’t feel like I went too hard, I didn’t feel like I went too far. I just spun, lost the rear with cold tires on the first lap, and that’s how it sometimes happens. It’s a shame, because it cost me the rest of the race, since we had the possibility of scoring good points and fighting with the Astons, I would say.”
After that, Norris moved from third to ninth position on the track, before losing a further place when being overtaken by Charles Leclerc between turns 4 and 5. The McLaren driver reached the finish in ninth place, notably overtaken at the end of the race by Nico Hülkenberg et George Russellshod in slicks when he stayed on the intermediates.
“The decision was difficult to make. Guys [qui ont changé de pneus] only managed to come back on the last lap, so it was difficult. It is a difficult decision to make. You can look like a hero. In either case, it is not a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. I’m happy with our decision to stay on track.”
“If there had been a safety car, if there had been something, the others would have looked like idiots. In this case, we are the ones who look like idiots. Sometimes it’s okay and it’s coming. We lost two positions in the last two laps, but we had already lost them in Turn 3 on the first lap.”
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