ANALYSIS: The ten percent that ruined Norris’ chances at the Qatar Grand Prix
The tiniest of mistakes, but huge consequences. That is what Lando Norris had to experience at the Qatar Grand Prix where he finished down in tenth spot instead of extracting his MCL38’s potential to fight for the victory.
McLaren were favourites heading into the Qatar Grand Prix, with the Lusail International Circuit playing to the strengths of their MCL38 due to its long-radius medium-speed corners.
The team delivered in sprint qualifying and took an impressive one-two finish in the Qatar F1 Sprint before losing out in the main qualifying in which Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri only finished third and fourth behind Max Verstappen.
The British driver jumped to second at the start, and disappeared with Verstappen into the distance, but a yellow flag incident meant that he was hit with a ten-second stop-and-go penalty. After serving the penalty, he rejoined the field in last place, but showing an eye-catching performance in the final stages of the race, he bounced back to take the last championship point.
Tiny difference between Verstappen and Norris
The graph provided by Formula Data Analysis shows that Verstappen lifted slightly as soon as he entered the yellow-flag zone. Although the reduction in throttle application was only around 11 per cent, and the lift lasted only 0.9 seconds, it was enough for the Dutchman to comply with the regulations.
The yellow flags were displayed when Norris and Verstappen came out of the last corners, they were clear to see for both drivers. Despite having delivered a masterclass all through the weekend, the Briton failed to react on the yellow signal.
By contrast, Verstappen acted perfectly, as he lifted so slightly that he did not lose any top speed, but understandably did not gain any either, while Norris gained 2kph, which meant that the McLaren driver reduced the gap between himself and Verstappen from 1.7s to just 1.2s.
Reflecting on his race in which he displayed eye-catch performance on both the medium and the hard compound, Norris has emphasized that he did not deliberately fail to slow down in a bid to gain a potential competitive advantage to Verstappen.
The three-time F1 race winner commented: “I am not an idiot. If I knew there was a yellow, I would have slowed down.”
“The team gave me a great car today, it was the quickest out there, so I’m disappointed we haven’t been able to secure maximum points in Qatar. I know the rules around Yellow Flags, but I missed it. I have to take that on the chin. I can only apologise to the team.
Verstappen explained that he asked his team to check whether Norris lifted because he discovered that the Briton got significantly closer when they exited Turn 1.
However, the Dutch driver also saw that Norris used his DRS down the straight which he was entitled to activate because of the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas, but he was not sure whether the reduction of the gap was down to the DRS or the lack of reaction on the yellow flag zone.
“I mean, I knew that I lifted because I saw the double yellow. And I know that, of course, if I wouldn’t have lifted, it would have been investigated straight away. So you’re just on it.
“I mean, yeah, I asked if he lifted because he had a DRS, I think, from a backmarker at the same time as well. And then, of course, when we came out of Turn 1, I saw that he was a lot closer. So I just asked the team to check it. I mean, it was just a normal question. And I know, of course, with double yellows, they’re quite strict,” concluded Verstappen.
