Lando Norris was left beaming after he secured his first points finish in Formula 1.
The Briton managed to cross the line in sixth place in Bahrain, taking McLaren's best result since last year's Australian Grand Prix.
Norris lost out at the start and dropped down to 14th after making contact with one of his competitors. However, the 19-year-old says it just made his race more fun, as he was able to race this time after struggling to do so two weeks ago in Melbourne.
“P6, first points in Formula 1!” said an excited Norris after the race. “It's not like we just scraped into P10 or P9 or anything, we had very good pace today.
“It could have been a little bit better. I had a little bit of contact at the start, which put me down a bit, but made it a bit more fun, I think. I could do some racing for once. Well, for the first time this year, because Australia was too hard to overtake at. So I could have a bit more fun, enjoy it a bit more, which was nice. And yeah, P6 was just a massive bonus.”
Norris added that the McLaren's strong pace came as it is quick in a straight line, but admitted that it is losing out in the corners.
“We're not so good in the corners and quite good in the straights,” he said. “It’s quite simple, every team knows that.
"It obviously gives us a good chance to overtake if we manage the tyres well, which is a good positive compared to last year. I look forward to some tracks which might suit us better than here but overall I'm happy with P6.”
Replies (7)
Login to replyajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Lando is doing great, and he has a lot left to improve. But his baseline is very impressive. Also, kudos to McLaren for managing to bring such massive improvements from one race to another.
denis1304
Posts: 284
McLaren looked really competitive. Shame Norris lost so many places at the start.
When is test? Tomorrow?
boudy
Posts: 1,168
He's the real deal, looking better each race, unlike Gasly who looks out his depth.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Yeah, even taking Gasly's rookie status into account, this ain't pretty.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
We've got quite a few promising young drivers in this season, haven't we? Albon both Albon and Norris loik pretty competitive., Leclerc looks on par with the rest, and Russell looks faster thsn Kubica. Only Gasly and Gio look pale as of now.
siggy74
Posts: 194
Whats surprising is that we have young drivers that have down to earth and so much maturity in the way they approach the media and the weekend.
Leclerc will seriously show Vettal up this year, and if not careful Alosno could offer to comeback for free ;p
Norris is showing a very good maturity as well in his interviews, looking good overal for the new generation of drivers coming in :)
Looking like a fun year, the mid field is so close that these young guys get to learn F1 over taking rather than F1 follow the leader lol
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Very much so. I feel I've missed the kinda folks like Button recently, and Im glad Leclerc seem to be leaning that way. Albon too seem like a nice enough chap, as do Norris. So far so good in so many regards for this season: :)