Lando Norris: “Very happy with the result in the end”

After a seventh-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix, Lando Norris has reflected on what he has described as a ‘good day’ around the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza. Norris’ seventh-place finish combined with BWT Alpine F1 Team’s point-less showing has allowed the McLaren F1 Team to reduce the gap to fourth-place in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship Constructors’ Standings.

Having originally qualified in seventh, Norris was bumped up to the second row of the grid and started third as a result of a number of grid penalties ahead of him. The gift of a second row start was undone from the beginning as a poor start by the British driver saw him fall back to sixth-place on the opening lap.

McLaren, like the majority of the field, had opted for a one stop strategy, with Norris undertaking a thirty-four lap stint on the Medium tyres before attempting to see out the remainder of the Grand Prix on a new set of Soft tyres.

The late Safety Car that ensued because of Daniel Ricciardo’s untimely retirement, saw McLaren bring Norris in for another set of Soft tyres, in doing so Norris fell back one position to seventh as Sergio Pérez would overtake the McLaren driver during his second pit-stop of the race.

With the Grand Prix finishing under the Safety Car, Norris never had a chance to claim back sixth-place from Pérez and would come home to claim a seventh-place finish, adding a potentially valuable six points to McLaren’s total.

Norris stated that an issue with his MCL36 was at play in regard to his slow start and without it he could have been looking at a top five finish.

“A good day. Very happy with the result in the end. The pace was very strong today. We should have finished P5 or P6 but we lost several positions with an issue at the start, which compromised our race.

“Tough, especially on a day when we could have scored some really good points. However, there’s a lot of positives coming out of this weekend. Some strong things to try to carry on to next time. So, we’ll keep working hard and try to maintain this momentum for the next few races.”

Daniel Ricciardo: “It would have been nice to get some points but it wasn’t meant to be today”

An unfortunate late retirement while running in the points for Ricciardo, saw the Australian driver extend his unwanted streak of finishing outside the points. Ricciardo has now failed to finish in the points for the last four races, with his last points finish coming at the French Grand Prix.

Like his team-mate, Ricciardo was also promoted towards the front end of the grid and joined Norris on the second row of the grid. The eight-time race winner was able to take advantage of Norris’ slow start and by the end of the opening lap Ricciardo was running in third.

Ricciardo’s run inside the podium places was short-lived, as by the start of the second lap Max Verstappen passed his former team-mate heading into Turn One. Despite the pressure of Pierre Gasly behind him, Ricciardo was able to hold off the Frenchmen but was unable to fend off Carlos Sainz Jr, who made it past Ricciardo on the thirteenth lap of the race.

While Norris opted for an aggressive one-stop strategy of Medium-Soft, Ricciardo would opt to undertake his second strategy on the Hard compound of tyre and subsequently pitted earlier than Norris. Ricciardo rejoined the field in twelfth-place and would be able to work his way back into the points before his race would come to it’s untimely end.

A suspected oil leak inside his MCL36 saw Ricciardo’s race come to an early end, resulting in a strong performance by the Australian driver going unrewarded. Understandably disappointed to have a points finish taken from him, Ricciardo stated that it simply ‘wasn’t meant to be today’.

“It was nice to start at the front and get a decent start. Lando looked like he had a poor start so I got ahead of him and it was nice to be in third there, but I saw quickly Max (Verstappen) was right behind me and he was obviously on another level.

“I was just trying to set a rhythm in fourth, but we weren’t quick enough. I felt like I was doing a good job to hold off Gasly but didn’t have much more to show than that. It was a busy race, trying to hold on, do what I could and then yeah, felt like we got a little bit of a rhythm on the Hards with 10-15 laps to go but then the engine just switched off out of Turn Six.

“I had to pull over straight away because it was stuck in gear and so I couldn’t roll to a safe place. It would have been nice to get some points but it wasn’t meant to be today.”

Credit: Glenn Dunbar