Lando Norris was happy to recover from a poor start to score a point in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix, with the Briton claiming tenth despite the poor conditions at the Suzuka International Racing Course.
Having started inside the top ten, the McLaren F1 Team driver slipped to thirteenth at the start, but an early switch to intermediate tyres brought him back into contention for the top ten.
He did not have the pace to catch Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi in the second half of the rain-shortened race, but despite this he was content to score a point in conditions that did not suit McLaren in Japan.
“Firstly, I’m glad we got a race today,” said Norris. “The Japanese fans have been amazing here all weekend, and they waited in the rain for ages, so I’m glad we could give them that.
“Of course as drivers we always want to race. The race itself was a tricky one. I lost a lot of positions in the first start which was unfortunate, but then made up for it with the pit-stop, and it was good to come away with a point.
“Finally, congratulations to Max [Verstappen] on winning a second World Championship.”
“The end result was just really a case of when we fit the Inters” – Daniel Ricciardo
Likewise with Norris, team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was pleased that the race was able to get going after a lengthy red flag, although he was less than happy to miss out on points.
Ricciardo was one of the last to switch from the full wet tyres to the intermediates after the restart, and with other drivers making up between four and six seconds per lap by making the switch earlier, the Australian dropped well outside the top ten.
He recovered to eleventh at the chequered flag and he felt he had good pace during his last Japanese Grand Prix with McLaren, even though there was no reward at the end of the day.
“I’m happy we got to race today,” Ricciardo said. “It was looking very unlikely so, as a driver, of course, to have that opportunity and have a bit of fun, I enjoyed that, and more so for the fans, especially sitting out in this weather.
“The end result was just really a case of when we fit the Inters, which was tricky. It’s not like a normal situation where it’s ready and you just go. There are a few things to consider. I think the cars that went in, like [Sebastian] Vettel certainly capitalised, so that’s where we lost out today.
“Otherwise, I don’t think our pace was too bad but it was also just a case of managing the tyres. We have some things to improve but ultimately, I’m just glad we made a race for the fans today.
“Congratulations to Max on winning a well-earned second Drivers’ Championship.”
