Lando Norris felt there was little more that he could have done during Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, with the McLaren F1 Team racer finishing best-of-the-rest in seventh.
Norris gained a couple of places on the opening lap as team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr. and Renault F1 Team’s Nico Hülkenberg collided at turn five, and for the first part of the race, he was in a lonely position on the track, although not that far behind the leading six up front.
He regained seventh after the pit stop cycle played out but found himself under attack in the closing stages from Hülkenberg and from Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, both of whom were on softer tyres than he was. However, he was able to repel their attacks and finish seventh.
“A good race in the end with decent points, and I don’t think there was a lot more I could’ve done,” said Norris. “We did the best we could at the start but I was just getting held up by everyone ahead, which is part of the race because everyone is trying to save tyres.
“There were Safety Cars, sometimes helping but other times hindering, as it allowed [Nico] Hülkenberg and [Pierre] Gasly to come behind me on the softer tyre – a much fresher tyre as well – and I was under quite a bit of pressure towards the last few laps.
“I was having to push, which was fun, because for the rest of the race we were just driving around so slowly.”
Norris admitted it was a shame that McLaren did not score points with both cars, which was down to team-mate Sainz being hit by Hülkenberg on the opening lap at turn five. He felt the pace he showed proved that McLaren had a good car throughout the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.
“It was a shame about Carlos getting hit by Hülkenberg at the beginning, because I think we could both have been in the points today,” said Norris. “Massive thanks to the team and everyone back at the factory for their hard work.”
