McLaren driver Norris hands the Qatar Sprint Race win to his teammate Oscar Piastri after having been in the lead until the final corner of the nineteen racing laps. They brought back home a significant haul of points, especially compared to Ferrari ending the round in P4 and P5.
Heated title fight
The Woking-based team has thus extended their advantage on the Italian Scuderia in the constructors ’standings, with thirty points now separating the teams and a very important chance to secure the British team’s first Constructor Title since 1998. To achieve the incredible feat tomorrow already, the duo must outscore Ferrari by 15 points.
The British driver explained his choice in the post-Sprint Race interview, admitting that he wasn’t going as fast as his challenger could have allowed him in order to keep the Ferrari duo behind:
“A little bit, it’s always difficult to know, but we scored a 1-2 and that’s what we were aiming for today. We have got maximum points so we’re happy. We’re happy as a team, we have executed things perfectly and I think the pace was good.
“I probably could have pushed a little bit more than what I was doing, but we wanted to keep the others behinds, so we tried to help out and not let George get too close. We did our job and that’s the main thing.”
Teammates help each other
Norris, second in the drivers’ standings, went over the move with which he left the Sprint win to his younger teammate. He added that he had decided to do so already after the Brazilian Sprint race, when the Australian driver had doe the same for him in an attempt to reduce the gap to eventual championship winner Max Verstappen.
“It was quite a bit closer than what I was wanting, but I planned to do it since Brazil. It was what I thought it was best; it was probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it, and we did it so honestly I don’t mind.
“I’m not here to win sprint races, I’m here to win races and a championship, but that has not gone to plan, so I did the best we could and I look forward to tomorrow.”
Just like last year, a main talking point will be and has already been so far the physicality of the Qatarian round. Norris admitted that he was feeling extra exhausted after only 19 laps.
”It was tough, my neck is not too happy, you know? Yes, it’s going to be a difficult race tomorrow, these cold conditions, the wind, it’s a lot quicker than last year and it’s even more physical which I didn’t think it was possible. It’s tricky, but that’s a challenge we have got to deal with. I need to hit the gym maybe a bit more but all good otherwise.”
A good start
His teammate Oscar Piastri began the day from P3, gaining a position at the start over Russell with a bold early move. However he also severely hindered his tyres, but ultimately with the aid of his McLaren teammate he was able to get his second Sprint Race win in Qatar.
“It was about defence for the whole race. I had a good start and a good turn 1, and then I just didn’t have quite the pace, I think I killed the front a little bit early on, and then I think I was struggling a bit for the rest of the Sprint.
“Some great teamwork. I think that without that help it would have been a much more difficult Sprint. So yeah, nice to have a McLaren 1-2.”
Qualifying up next
Asked on how easy it is to switch to qualifying mentality, the McLaren driver in his second F1 season mentioned that at this track is actually not that hard, considering the extremely high speeds.
“To be honest here it’s probably the smallest change from qualifying to the race, in a lot of places it’s six or seven seconds. The grip feels much different here, we’re still pushing pretty much flat out in the race. It’ll be a change for sure. I think we have got a few tweaks we want to try and make to hopefully make the car a bit quicker and make the driver a bit quicker as well.”
He also is quite confident about his Pole chances for the actual race, especially with the extra information collected during the earlier session.
“I think so, it’s very very tight, from first to fifth ort sixth was only two or three tenths, soi there’s not much margin for error. But we have got a few things we can improve a bit and I think we’re in for a shoot, but everyone is keeping us on our toes.”
