Lando Norris admitted it was a disappointing day for both himself and the McLaren F1 Team in the São Paulo Grand Prix as the Briton could only score a single point for tenth place.
Norris made a good start and attempted to pass Carlos Sainz Jr. on the outside only to collide with the Scuderia Ferrari, with the Briton suffering an immediate puncture as a result.
A slow opening lap crawl to the pits left him at the back of the pack, although he was given a chance to fight through the field thanks to the safety car. He eventually claimed tenth, although Ferrari’s fifth and sixth place means McLaren have slid thirty-one-and-a-half points behind them in the Constructors’ Championship with only three rounds remaining.
“A disappointing day for all of us as a team, as well as for myself,” said Norris. “I had a really good start and as I tried to come back onto the track there just wasn’t enough room and I ended up getting the puncture.
“We could’ve scored some good points. We’ll review it and try to do a better job next time. The fight back through was good, managing to score a point, which is better than nothing.
“I think that’s the best we could’ve done today after what happened. A tough few weeks but hopefully we can have a better one in Qatar.”
Cracked Chassis causes Retirement for Ricciardo
Team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was on course for a good result and perhaps a place inside the top seven, only for a mechanical issue curtail his day.
The Australian suffered a power loss that McLaren revealed was caused by a cracked chassis, and it meant an early bath for him when he felt he could have fought with the likes of Charles Leclerc, Sainz and Pierre Gasly until the chequered flag.
“It was going OK! We went forwards at the start, which was definitely one objective after yesterday,” said Ricciardo. “I wasn’t happy with how the sprint panned out for myself, so I was determined to make it better.
“We had some good battles, [Esteban] Ocon made a good move on me early in the race and I was able to get him back with pretty much the same move, so that felt good.
“After that, we were in the fight with Gasly, and with Ferrari as well. We knew they had to two-stop. I think they had a bit more pace but maybe through strategy we could’ve disrupted them. But then we had a loss of power and had to retire the car.
“Definitely a shame, but it was a much more promising day than yesterday. We’ll take the positives from that, and we’ve got another chance next week.”
Daniel Ricciardo suffered a crack chassis in São Paulo that cost him a chance of points – Credit: McLaren F1 Team