Lando Norris (GBR), McLaren F1 Team 28.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 20, Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City, Mexico, Qualifying Day.
Lando Norris blamed a “silly” error at Turn 12 on his one completed qualifying lap for his shock Q1 exit at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
After featuring in the top eight through all three practice sessions, Norris had been earmarked as one of the potential candidates for pole position on Saturday.
Norris was one of a select few drivers to venture out for the first qualifying segment on the Medium compound but languished in the drop zone as the time ebbed away.
Having encountered a slight moment in the middle sector on his only timed run, McLaren instructed Norris to pit for a change onto the Soft tyre to ensure he progressed to Q2.
However, the Briton was forced to abort his final flying lap when yellow flags were waved for a spin from Fernando Alonso at Turn 3, preventing many drivers from improving.
Among them was Norris, leaving the McLaren driver eliminated in 19th place.
Expanding on the events of his troubled Q1 session, Norris said: “Many people [went out on the medium first]. Oscar [Piastri] did, the Ferraris did, the Mercedes did. It was just something we had planned already.
“We had one issue which was when I didn’t complete the lap, we thought there was enough time to do so… we still had the Soft tyre to go. I just didn’t get to set a banker lap, that would be my first problem for you.
“Then I had one opportunity until the yellow flag at the end which is a shame. I had one lap in the middle and I messed up into T12, I went on the exit kerb and locked up a little bit and went off. That turned out to be my only lap of qualifying so, that was it.”
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL60. 28.10.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 20, Mexican Grand Prix, Mexico City, Mexico, Qualifying Day.
Norris admits that he had been encountering problems with braking into Turn 12 during FP3, which led to him overstepping the mark and losing time at the corner in qualifying.
The 23-year-old concedes that he pushed more than was needed to post a time that would have been sufficient for a Q2 spot.
Asked if overheating tyres was an issue, Norris retorted: “No, I just braked too late. My first Medium lap I didn’t brake into Turn 12 so that would have been my first time.
“If I braked too late into Turn 12 on the Medium, maybe on the Soft I would have pulled it back.
“It was close, I thought I had to push more than I had to. I was easily in, so it was quite silly of myself to push quite as much as that.
“It’s where I was a bit down, the one thing I had to improve after FP3 was the braking into Turn 12. Yeah, the first Soft lap was my first time to try and improve on that a little bit. It was my first push lap into Turn 12 and I just overdid it a little bit.”
Prior to this weekend, Norris had been on a career-best run of four consecutive podium finishes in Formula 1, elevating him up to sixth place in the Drivers’ Championship.
Norris is adamant that adding to his points tally is the aim but remains wary that the difficulty in passing at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez could halt his progress.
“The easy one to say is that points are the target,” he said regarding his prospects. “We were easily there today, pace is very good. Race pace is another question.
“So yeah, pass as many cars as we need to, obviously sticking with targets and things like that, there’s still plenty of opportunities. It’s still not a very easy track to do a lot. I can’t see many overtaking opportunities, the slipstreams not very big at all because of the air density so yeah.
“I think we were easily quick enough to be top six, so plenty of opportunities to get back tomorrow.”
Keyword: Norris: Shock Mexico Q1 exit stemmed from ‘silly’ Turn 12 error