Lando Norris bemoaned his luck after a faltering performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix all but ended his slim F1 title ambitions.
Having qualified on pole position in the rescheduled session on Sunday morning, with title rival Max Verstappen starting down in 17th, the hope for Norris and McLaren was to close the gap at the top of the drivers’ championship.
Instead, a scintillating performance from Verstappen in a wet race with a number of incidents saw the Dutchman blast through to take his first victory in 10 grand prix, while Norris fluffed his lines to finish sixth.
Norris’ race started inauspiciously when he was hit with a starting infringement after pulling off the line despite an aborted start, something that is to be investigated by stewards after the race.
He then lost the lead to George Russell once the race finally got under way and then pitted for new intermediate tyres just as a virtual safety car was ending, losing places just moments before a red flag was thrown.
That meant Verstappen and the Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who both ended up on the podium, got a free tyre change before the restart – something that seemingly left Norris unhappy.
“It was the right time to box…it was the right thing. So no regrets, just unlucky,” he said.
“It's a silly rule that no one agrees with, but you'll always agree with it when it benefits you, you know. So, every driver has said they don’t agree with it and want it changed.
“So it's just unfortunate, but it's the rule. You win some, you lose some it benefitted them today. So, well done to them.”
Asked about the aborted start, Norris replied: “I’m not sure (what happened), I need to go speak with the team.”
Verstappen can now claim his fourth world championship in Las Vegas next time out and Norris conceded the Red Bull was on a different planet around the tricky conditions in Sao Paulo.
“I did all I could today. That's all. Max won the race. Good on him well done but it doesn't change anything for me,” he added.
“Max was easily quicker than us and I think if he went from the front he probably would have lapped us. The pace was good, I think similar to George but the Red Bull was very fast today.
“It's been an up-and-down weekend, for sure. Not a lot more I could do. I'm sure George probably feels like he won the race today, he deserved it more than anyone else.
“I probably finished third realistically, so it's tough. Max probably would have come through anyway and probably beaten us, but, yeah, just unlucky for us. Nothing more than that. I made a couple of mistakes, which I own up to, and cost me a couple of positions in the end but that’s it.”
Photos from Brazilian GP Qualifying & Race
