After a Frustrated Confession, Lando Norris Urges McLaren To Step Their Game Up Before the Next Race in Austria

We have witnessed a range of emotions exhibited by various F1 drivers as we have progressed through the first eight races this year. However, Lando Norris‘ “frustration” mood has stayed constant throughout. Norris, 23, has so far expressed faith in McLaren and their strategy, but the team hasn’t delivered on the same for the British driver. This has caused a great deal of annoyance for the McLaren star, and he is now urging the Woking-based team to step up their game ahead of a crucial race in Austria.

Lando Norris finished in P9 while displaying some deadly maneuvers at the Canada track. The British driver however was knocked down by a 5-second time penalty, which caused him to finish the race in 13th place while initially vying for eighth with Esteban Ocon. And after suffering through nightmares like Miami and Barcelona, Norris will undoubtedly want to forget the competition at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

According to Motorsport-Total, Norris showed his frustration in his own style. Initially, Lando only concentrated on MCL 60’s sluggish pace, which, in the 23-year-old’s opinion, “hasn’t changed.” Later, he showed his annoyance and said, “ I always want to go faster. Of course, it was a tough start. It’s the toughest start to a Formula 1 year I’ve ever had.”

While urging McLaren to come up with some improvement since the Austrian Grand Prix is a Sprint weekend and the Papaya army will undoubtedly have a chance to climb up in the championship standings, Norris added, “It’s so difficult, especially when you’re not always fighting for points, that definitely makes it more difficult. But yes, I always want to make the car faster and it’s good to see that some things are changing.”

While praising the team’s efforts, the 23-year-old wrapped up the conversation by stating, “But the guys have worked very hard to develop the car as quickly as possible. We’ll just wait and see how much it will help.” 

READ MORE: “Best Race of the Year”: Despite a Bizarre Penalty That Left Him Clueless, Lando Norris Finds One Crucial Reason to Celebrate

The race was going well for the McLaren driver, and it appeared Norris would eventually finish in the top ten. The penalty, though, caused him to drop out of those crucial points which the 23-year-old felt to be unfair.

Why does Lando Norris feel his 5-second time penalty was unfair?

Lando Norris received the punishment for acting in an unsportsmanlike manner. This incident was when, in an effort to reduce the impact of double stacking in the pitlane he allowed his teammate to pit ahead of him under the safety car brought in when George Russell hit the wall. The British driver was later found to be overly irritated by the punishment. In an interview later on, Norris cleared the entire scenario of his side. He said, “I only got told to box like three seconds before the box, and by that time I was flat out.”

Although Norris was confirmed to be speaking his story after the race, an onboard camera clip indicates that the McLaren driver was falling back as the clock went on. This led him to assert that if his activities were so objectionable, he ought to have been punished over the course of the previous three years.

The 23 year old added, “It doesn’t make any sense to me, there’s plenty of times when you go slow under the Safety Car, so if I got a penalty today, I should have got a penalty for the last three years as well. So should everyone else, but I didn’t do anything wrong, all [the team] said was that I had a five-second penalty but that was it, like five or 10 laps to go.”

Do you believe Lando Norris’ punishment was fair? And if so, how will the Stewards evolve moving forward? Will the FIA face further pressure to carry out its obligations?

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