“Worst nightmare” for Norris as Chinese GP struggles continue

Having admitted to making a mistake that cost him in sprint qualifying on Friday, Lando Norris again took the blame for a poor outing in Saturday’s Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix sprint race.

An error on his final qualifying run meant the McLaren man started sixth on the grid for the sprint race and he ran onto the grass at Turn 6, losing three places as a result.

The mistake left him in ninth and it took him almost the rest of the 19-lap race to pass the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll to take the final point.

The sprint was dominated by Lewis Hamilton, who won from pole, but almost every other driver struggled with tyre graining – something that Norris bemoaned after the race.

“I just went in a bit hot, that’s on me, but yeah, I just struggled after that. I didn’t really have any pace,” he said about the incident on the opening lap.

“I struggle a lot in these conditions with the front graining. It’s like my worst nightmare. So I have a lot of work to do, but I was struggling a lot out there.”

Norris remains top of the drivers’ standings having won the opening race in Australia last weekend.

He conceded his sprint qualifying run was always going to make his task harder heading into the sprint race itself and is determined to improve his Chinese GP weekend when qualifying rolls around later on Saturday.

“I mean, it certainly didn’t help,” he said of starting on the third row. “The further back you start, the harder it is. I just had a bad first lap. I started to run onto the grass into Turn 6 and I lost a couple of positions, and then it was just difficult to do a lot.

“Quali didn’t help, but I just wasn’t very good today either. [Qualifying] is just another session, I’m probably a bit more confident. But at the minute in the race, we just feel dreadful so a lot of work to do but that’s the way it is.”