Norris had no reason to apologize for the China F1 race show, says McLaren

Norris had started from the front after a strong performance in Friday’s wet qualifying session, but all was not well in Turn 1 of the sprint race after he went from bad to worse in a side-by-side collision with Lewis Hamilton.

After losing ground off the grid, he found himself in the dirt outside the long right-hand corner. And, after losing the spot, he ran wide and left the routine.

Although he was able to recover and finish sixth, Norris clearly felt he could have done better.

Speaking on team radio after the checkered flag, Norris said: “Yeah, I’m happy at Turn 1, my bad. I lost the car completely, so I’m sorry. Should have got more points than that.”

But McLaren boss Andrea Stella moved quickly and said that instead of the driver apologizing, it is the team that should say sorry for not giving him a car that was better able to fight for victory.

“He certainly doesn’t need to apologize because we need his apology (for the car),” Stella told Sky Sports F1.

“He knows that he could do better, but we appreciate the great effort and we work as a team. And also this just gives a sense of the kind of person he is.

“He feels, I’m sure, like ‘I’ve let the team down.’ (But) don’t worry, Lando, you haven’t let the team down. We need to give you a better car and then everything will be easier, instead of always being limited to bring important results.

“So it’s more up to us, and the men and women at McLaren are working hard to improve the car.”

Although Norris would have had a chance to challenge Hamilton for the early lead had he had a better first corner, he doubted he could hold off eventual winner Max Verstappen.

“Yeah, no chance,” he said when asked if a win was on the table. “Maybe it could have been one or two places higher. But that’s what it was.

“I think Mercedes had a really good pace today. George (Russell) was catching us very quickly and Lewis had a good pace too. And then the Red Bulls and even the Ferraris, honestly.

“I was managing to survive only because of DRS. If I didn’t have DRS, I would have gone behind them for a long time. Our race speed was very shocking today, which we expected the way the track is, and only our shortcomings we have in the car.