Lando Norris qualified 10th this afternoon in Monaco, which showcased a significant improvement from Miami where he finished P16. Despite the refinement, 23-year-old was still not fully satisfied with his Saturday performance.
Photo credit: McLaren Racing
The McLaren driver was calling for the stewards to give Charles Leclerc a penalty after the Monegasque blocked Norris’ final qualifying run for the Monaco Grand Prix.
The incident occurred when Norris damaged his suspension at the end of Q2 from clipping the barrier coming out of Nouvelle Chicane. The mechanics were able to fix his car in time before he went out for one last attempt in Q3; however, Leclerc had slowed down in the tunnel and blocked him, which spoiled the chances of a better qualifying.
After a Q3 that resulted with him in 10th place, he was asked what sort of penalty he thinks should be given to Leclerc. He responded firmly that any usual grid drop would not affect his starting position due to track position being critical at Monaco.
“I don’t know, disqualified or something?” he said jokingly. “I don’t know, there’s one rule which is don’t slow down in the middle of the tunnel, and that’s what he did, so not up to me.”
That being the case, three-place grid penalty that was given to Leclerc does not seem to put Norris’ mind at ease. He also shared his thoughts on the radio strategy of Ferrari. “I think he did what he could. But when you listen to the team radio, they were just telling him about Verstappen’s lap, giving him live updates rather than concentrating on who’s behind him, which I don’t really understand, but it is what it is.”
Photo credit: McLaren
The British driver reflected on the improvements on the car and gave an overview of the season in his post-qualifying interviews as well. “We’ve obviously come here with a few different little bits to try to improve the car, which have probably moved it in a little bit the right direction,” he stated.
“But it’s just a different track. We were decent in Baku, I went to Miami, we were pretty far off the pace and we’ve come back to a street circuit which just suits us more. It’s not like we’ve changed anything on the car and it’s made us much better than where we realistically are, which is still a very long way off.”
He didn’t forget to highlight the team effort that was being put by saying: “I think we did a very good job all weekend, the team has done a very good job. I think we’ve maximised what we’ve had until I f***ed it all up in qualifying.”
He admitted he wasn’t entirely sure in the car after his quick repair job, but was impressed by how well it held up. “The guys did a good job so I said a big thanks when I came back in,” he said.
Norris also confessed that the rushed repair of the car made him nervous, yet he was impressed with the car in Q3 until he got blocked by the Monegasque.
