It was late heartbreak for Lando Norris at the Qatar Grand Prix, after a late puncture ruined the British drivers hopes of a top five finish. Norris ended up in ninth with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finishing twelfth at the Losail International Circuit.
It was a disappointing end to what has been a tough triple-header for Norris, the British driver was comfortably looking at a top five finish before a late puncture forced him into an unplanned pit-stop. Norris was one of four drivers to experience a front-left puncture during the race, most likely caused by the horrible kerbs at the Losail International Circuit.
The extra stop dropped Norris to the foot of the points, behind both Scuderia Ferrari’s. Ninth was the best Norris could salvage from a difficult race. The Mclaren F1 Team driver was upset by the result after feeling confident in the race.
“A disappointing race. We could’ve scored some good points today. The car was very strong, I felt confident and we had good pace compared to everyone behind. Only Fernando [Alonso] had slightly better pace. I’m not sure we could’ve challenged for the podium, but we had good pace to go for P4, or at least P5, which would’ve been a great result for us. We lost that position through no fault of our own. It’s a huge shame, as the team worked really hard all weekend, but there was nothing we could do.”
“A weekend off is necessary” – Daniel Ricciardo
It was an equalling disappointing end to the triple-header for Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian made his life difficult in qualifying after ending the session fourteenth, leaving him with plenty of work during the race. With overtaking predicted to be difficult during the race, Ricciardo struggled to make much ground into the points, his hopes weren’t helped either by a fuel issue.
In the end twelfth was all Ricciardo could salvage from the first-ever Qatar Grand Prix, the Honey Badger is glad that himself and the team now get a weekend off.
“Unfortunately, a pretty disappointing end to the triple-header today. We ran into some issues with fuel, and we had to save which dictated our race. So, not sure what happened but we obviously need to look into it. I’m looking forward to moving on. I think a weekend off is necessary for everyone involved. We’ll debrief now, try to understand the issues today and then we’ve got some sim time next week to get ready for the last two. Let’s finish strong.”
