Lando Norris expressed his desire to “go to bed” after a failed McLaren strategy in the Qatar Grand Prix handed the victory and championship opportunity to Max Verstappen of Red Bull. The fight for the title will be decided in the last race in Abu Dhabi next week, after Verstappen won in Qatar, reducing the gap with Norris to 12 points in the drivers’ standings. Although Norris never seemed to be in contention for the victory in Qatar, his teammate, Oscar Piastri, lost a clear opportunity to win after McLaren chose not to pit their cars under a safety car on lap 7, while the rest of the grid did. This decision led Piastri to finish second and Norris fourth, which means Piastri is now third in the standings, four points behind Verstappen and 16 points behind his McLaren teammate.
When asked about how he would approach Abu Dhabi, now that Verstappen is his biggest threat, Norris replied: “The same as every weekend. I try to beat them, they try to beat me. Nothing different… I just want to go to bed.” A podium in Abu Dhabi would still guarantee the title for Norris, who stated that he will focus on continuing his good run, which led him to recent victories in Mexico and Brazil.The same as every weekend. I try to beat them, they try to beat me.
Lando Norris
Obviously, it’s not our best day, nor our best weekend. But I don’t know if anyone saw the run of results I had before that, they were great. So I put myself in this position [at the top of the championship]. I’m still happy. It wasn’t our best day, it wasn’t my best weekend in terms of driving and putting things together. But that’s life. Everyone has bad weekends. I assume it, we will assume it and we will see what we can do next weekend.
Lando Norris
