Lando Norris was at a loss for an explanation and admitted that he had made his life “a lot harder” after a crash at the start of Q3 in Jeddah left him with no time in the session and stranded him in 10th on the grid.
It’s a huge blow to his title campaign with rivals Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri starting on the front row.
The shunt came after Piastri seized the initiative in Bahrain last weekend with his second win of the season, while Verstappen’s pole means that the Red Bull driver can’t be ruled out of the title fight, despite the limitations of the RB21.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Norris when I asked him to talk through the incident. “I’ve not had any time to look into it, obviously. So just a mistake I guess. I don’t know what I’ve done.
“I was pretty comfortable, I was pretty happy until then, the car was strong. So disappointed.
“Obviously, I made my life and everyone in the team’s a lot trickier for tomorrow and a lot harder, because the guys have got a big job tonight to try and fix everything. But it’s life. This happens on a rare occasion. So yeah, a tough one.”
Norris hopes to make progress on Sunday but he concedes that McLaren doesn’t have a pace advantage this weekend.
“We’ve got to look at the bright side and hope that we can have a good race tomorrow,” he said.
“I don’t think it’s going to be an easy one, because I don’t think it’s very easy to overtake around here, but we have a strong car, clearly not as good as what we would like, because we’re not on pole, and Max is first, and George is only a tenth behind.
“So it’s not like things are plain sailing at the minute. So yeah, a big job to try and do tomorrow.”
Team radio caught Norris calling himself a “****ing idiot” before he climbed out of the damaged car. Reminded of his words he stood by them.
“Makes sense!,” he said. “Well yeah, I agree with it. I should be fighting for pole and especially on a Q1 lap I shouldn’t be taking any silly risks like I seem to have done, and I need to go and review it all, like I said.
“But not a guarantee we would have been on pole, because Max looks like he did a good job. Red Bull, they were quick the whole of qualifying, it wasn’t a surprise. Would have been nice just to be in that fight. I was doing well until then, and feeling comfortable.
“I mean it makes sense, I shunted. So again, I’m not going to be proud, I’m not going to be happy. I’ve let myself down and let the team down, and the guys have got a big job to do now to fix it all.
“So, yeah, it’s the way it is. I agree with what I said, But I still look forward to tomorrow and have to try make up for today.”
The accident aside Norris agreed that he was more comfortable with the car than he was a week ago in Bahrain.
“I’m happier, but it’s a very different layout. It’s a lot grippier. The grip here is incredible. So happier. I mean, we’ve tried to work on a few things. I’ve had to work a lot of my driving.
“It’s got nothing to do with it. This is just a separate mistake, but the team are doing a good job in trying to understand these things. Yeah, just takes some time.”
Adam Cooper F1 