McLaren Formula 1 star Lando Norris claimed a sixth-place finish in the United States Grand Prix thanks to a late run of speed and some hard-earned luck.
The Bristol-born Somerset driver finished as the best of the rest and had some exciting battles with his rivals around him but was a witness to the big crash between Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso, which resulted in the latter being handed a 30-second time penalty after the race.
Despite having to run through a large amount of debris on the home straight, Norris sustained no damage and was able to pit under the safety car, undercutting Valtteri Bottas and coming out in the final points position.
Once the safety car ended, a thrilling race restarted and battles were seen all over the grid, but thanks to some slick and confident driving, he snuck through the pack and crossed the line, claiming eight points for the Papaya team.
The sixth-place grid start soon turned sour as Norris struggled when the lights went out and lost a few places on the opening lap, which soon turned into a DRS train with three other drivers involved.
However, he wasn’t the worst loser on the opening lap as Carlos Sainz collided with George Russell and dropped all the down to 20th, with the latter being handed a five-second penalty for his actions.
As soon as the first driver pitted, a flurry of pitstops were seen and Norris came into the pits in one of the final points positions and switched to the hard tyres, but it wasn’t until his second stop, that his pace was truly on show.
On Lap 34, he came in for his second stop, stayed on the hard tyre and thanks to a 2.2-second stop from the team, rejoined the race in 10th behind Yuki Tsunoda.
After realising what position he was in, Norris pushed on and was able to fight his way through the field, picking off his rivals in front of him and sped to his fastest lap of the race on Lap 49 with a time of 1:41.322.
Sebastian Vettel claimed the driver of the day award as he finished in seventh place, but was on track for a potential podium before a 16-second stop ruined his race.
Alonso finished the race in seventh but due to his penalty, dropped out of the top 10, which in turn promoted Esteban Ocon up to 10th, meaning Alpine won’t be leaving America empty-handed.
With the eight points claimed for Norris and McLaren, the Brit has extended his lead to 30 points on the aforementioned Frenchman and the British team close the gap to six points in the battle for fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
After the race, Norris explained his happiness, stating: “A good race! Races like these are more enjoyable compared to just being on your own, even though it’s a lot tougher. It was very enjoyable, especially the race with Fernando.
“I had a tricky start, getting caught behind an incident ahead. We also picked up damage halfway through the race, so I'm very happy to have finished P6. We came away with the best result possible and picked up some decent points.”
Norris will now be looking to extend his lead as ‘the best of the rest’ in the Drivers’ Championship, as Formula 1 heads to the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico next weekend.
