20/04/2025 22:45
Lando Norris has conceded he made life "very tough" for himself at
the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, after his qualifying shunt ruined his
chances of victory. It was a second-consecutive disappointing
weekend for the McLaren driver, coming off the back of an
underwhelming display at the Bahrain International Circuit. At the
previous round, a poor qualifying effort left him to recover from
sixth on the grid to third, whilst in Jeddah, his Q3 crash meant he
lined up in tenth. He made his way back through the pack,
ultimately finishing fourth. Despite being unable to get past
Charles Leclerc for a podium finish, he was "happy enough" with his
effort. Norris was keen to stress, however, that although McLaren
is "consistent" at the moment, the race was proof it is not as far
clear of the competition than is often suggested. "Clearly, that
was just not an easy race," the 25-year-old told media including
RacingNews365 . "We look good, we're probably the most consistent
team, but we're not quicker than the rest. "And because of my
mistakes, like yesterday and things like that, I paid the price,
and I made my life very tough for myself, so I'm happy enough."
'Surprising' race pace Norris crossed the line fewer than 10
seconds adrift of team-mate Oscar Piastri, who took victory,
something that highlighted how "strong" the race pace was
generally. The five-time grand prix winner pointed out how the
performance of the Ferrari ahead was "a little bit surprising",
which, when coupled with the lack of degradation, meant he was
unable to find a way by. "Charles is quick," he said. "The pace was
very strong to finish nine seconds off the lead. It was a little
bit surprising... "I was pushing as much as I could. I did
everything, there's no degradation here, you just push flat out.
"In a way, it's why it's quite a boring race, because it's low deg.
So it's a flat out race from lap 1 to lap 50, and makes it
physically tough."
