01/09/2025 11:05
Lando Norris has expressed his hurt at his costly retirement from
the Dutch Grand Prix but insists he will take the misfortune "on
the chin" and move forward. The McLaren driver was on course for
second place at Zandvoort when the power unit in the back of his
MCL39 appeared to give out on lap 65 of 72. As a result of his DNF,
the Briton has fallen to 34 points behind team-mate Oscar Piastri
in the F1 drivers' championship hunt, when the deficit had looked
set to grow to only 16. After the race, Norris reflected on his bad
luck when it mattered most over the weekend, maintaining he was
powerless to prevent it. When asked to talk through his emotions
after what could prove to be a pivotal point in the title race, he
explained that there was "nothing much" to discuss. "It wasn't my
fault, so nothing I can really do," the 25-year-old told media,
including RacingNews365 . "Just not my weekend. "A little bit
unlucky yesterday with the wind and unlucky today. So nothing much
[to talk through]. I mean, yep, out of my control. "So, tough one.
Of course, it's frustrating. It hurts a bit. It hurts for sure in
the championship point of view, it's a lot of points to lose so
quickly and so easily, but it's nothing I can control now, so I'll
just take a little chin and move on." 'It was pretty instant' -
Norris McLaren team principal Andrea Stella was careful to avoid
initially speculating about the cause of the issue with Norris'
car, arguing it could be either chassis or power unit-related.
However, late on Sunday evening, the Woking-based squad did not
confirm it was a problem with the former, absolving Mercedes of any
fault. This discovery will be a relief to the German marque, which
has suffered a spate of problems over the course of the campaign.
It also comes after Norris radioed in to McLaren to inform the team
of smoke in his cockpit shortly before pulling to the side of the
track as the incident unfolded. "There's nothing the team told me
or said - I think it was pretty instant as well," the nine-time
grand prix winner explained afterwards. "So I don't know what the
actual issue was, either - the engine just shut off and that was
it."
