Norris had a difficult qualifying race at Albert Park, finishing 13th which was three-tenths of a second behind Alex Albon from Williams who managed to get in the top 10.
When people asked Norris why he made so many mistakes while racing his car, the MCL60, he said it was a combination of the car being difficult to drive and him trying too hard to make the car go faster. He also admitted that he still hasn’t completely figured out how to use all the features in his 2023 racecar model.
“It’s tricky,” Norris said. “Especially when you’re not far off.”
I’m trying to do a better job of driving than settling for something average. I don’t think I know every corner well enough yet to get the rhythm and drive correctly like I should be. It’s also a difficult car to drive since it is easy to go too fast.
Today, Lando Norris from the McLaren team made a mistake and got knocked out of a race called “Q1” during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix qualifying. This was caused by Norris trying to go too fast and later on admitted that it was his fault saying; “I am where I deserve to be.” But he’s still trying hard to get the McLaren team their first points win in 2023.
Rookie driver Oscar Piastri had a tough race at his home track as he was only able to qualify 16th for the race, which was due to his own mistake. His team boss Andrea Stella thought differently about what happened, though. He didn’t think that either Piastri or teammate Lando Norris were driving badly; instead, he felt it was the team’s fault since they made a car that doesn’t have much grip and is hard to handle.
Stella said that the car Lando is driving is tricky to control, especially when braking. The car needs to be pushed hard to make it work and if the conditions are too cold with wind thrown in, the margin for mistakes is really slim.
The drivers are trying to get the best performance out of their cars by taking some risks, but it’s hard to drive because their cars don’t have enough power. This is something that the team (engineers, etc) needs to fix so the drivers can perform at their best levels.
We really appreciate Lando and Oscar for their hard work and effort on the track, but they also need to keep focusing on improving themselves. We understand that it’s ultimately the entire team’s job to do better.