Lando Norris says he didn’t want to “just sit there and do nothing” behind Lance Stroll before the pair made race-ending contact in the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix.
Norris had started the race from tenth but lost ground on lap one and dropped as low as sixteenth in the opening stages. The McLaren F1 Team rookie says it was “unfortunate” but believes his race pace was good, despite being stuck in the mid-field.
“A disappointing race,” said Norris. “I had a really good start but struggled around Turn Three, went wide and lost a lot of positions. That put me in a bad position for the whole race. It was unfortunate but I had good pace afterwards.”
With twenty laps to go, Norris attempted to pass Lance Stroll around the outside of turn one before being pinched to the inside of turn two. The pair touched wheels and both Stroll and Norris were forced to retire.
“Later I tried to get past Stroll. I was on the inside and I don’t know if he just didn’t see me as he turned in but there was contact and it put me out of the race. I didn’t want to just sit there and do nothing.”
It was the first retirement of Norris’s grand prix career, while the resulting safety car allowed his team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. to reach eighth place.
“In the end, the team result wasn’t bad with Carlos getting points.”
