Norris had “sketchy” end to Chinese GP with brake issue

Lando Norris admits he was lucky to finish the Chinese Grand Prix having taken second place despite a worsening brake issue to remain at the top of the Formula 1 drivers’ championship.

While his team-mate Oscar Piastri secured victory in Shanghai, Norris had to manage a brake problem in the closing stages and kept George Russell at bay after twice passing the Mercedes on track.

Having won the opening race in Australia and taken a point in the sprint race in China, Norris’ second place leaves him on 44 points, eight points clear of Max Verstappen in the standings.

Norris revealed the team knew about the issue with the front brakes before reporting it over the team radio with seven laps remaining.

“I would rather finish second than not at all, no hard braking,” race engineer Will Joseph told Norris, before saying the situation had become “critical” on the penultimate lap.

Russell closed up by over three seconds on the final lap but Norris hung on to secure a 50th McLaren 1-2 in F1.

“He would have got me next lap, yeah,” Norris admitted to Sky Sports F1.

“I was lucky to finish the race today which is not something you want to be saying. I mean, brakes are something you hate but something you really do need, and they can save you, save your life.

“So a sketchy last couple of laps, because the brakes were getting worse and worse every lap, and the last couple of laps I’m three or four seconds off, so quite nervous.

“I think the team knew about the problem much before they told me about it, so they wanted to keep me calm.

“So not good at all from that side because we’re lucky to have finished the race, but to finish with a 1-2 makes us very happy. It’s what we wanted to come into the weekend with, and it’s what we achieved, so yeah, a very good day for the team.”

Having admitted to making mistakes in sprint qualifying, the sprint race and qualifying for the grand prix itself, Norris put in a better performance on Sunday.

He got past Russell into the first corner to take second place, and again after the undercut worked in favour of the Mercedes man following the one and only round of stops for the leaders.

Asked if he could have challenged Piastri for the win without the brake complication, Norris replied: “It doesn’t really matter, does it? I would have loved to have challenged Oscar today, but he drove well. I had the pace for sure especially because in dirty air it’s a lot more tricky like we’ve seen all weekend, but I do think the pace was there.

“But Oscar deserved it completely. He took pole yesterday and then a win today, so he’s driven very well. A shame about my brakes in the end, but that’s life. We’ll take it on the chin and move on.”

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Both McLaren drivers now have a grand prix win to their name in 2025 and, heading to Japan in a fortnight, Norris was much happier than when he first took to the track in Shanghai.

“I mean it’s going to be exciting, it’s exciting for all of us,” he added.

“It’s tough but I’m still feeling good. With how bad the car had been yesterday and the day before I really felt like a good few steps behind all weekend.

“In terms of driving personally and just with the car balance today things came towards me a lot more and the pace difference from today to yesterday showed just how much having a car that suits you versus a car that doesn’t suit you can make, because I felt like I probably had the best pace out there today.

“It doesn’t mean I’m going to win with the best pace, but I felt, like, very confident today, and I felt the complete opposite yesterday, so a positive in terms of learnings and takeaways for the next few weekends.

“Even though I’ve been driving a McLaren for six, seven years, this weekend was a complete new one for me and I had to change a lot of things in my driving, so glad that I got some answers.”