“If I Made One More Mistake…” – Norris Explains Why His Engineer Was ‘Extremely Nervous’

The intensity in Lando Norris’ cockpit heightened as he was being chased by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez at the Monaco Grand Prix. Hence, the McLaren driver ordered his team to maintain radio silence to focus on the race. Norris later revealed that during the race, his engineer, William Joseph, was nervous that the Briton was going to get a five-second penalty if he went over the track limits.

However, Norris wanted to stay fully focused on keeping his place and not letting Perez overtake him. In the end, it was the 21-year-old who came out on top and brought home a P3 finish for his team.

Lando Norris explains his orders of radio silence

Speaking after the race, the McLaren driver said, “There’s a new rule for this weekend [that] if you missed the chicane you get a warning. I think by about Lap 7 I had used both my opportunities to go off the track which made my engineer Will extremely nervous.

“So not an ideal start to the race, especially because I knew there were many more laps to go and the final stint, when you can be pushing more. If I made one more mistake and went off I would have a five-second penalty and Perez would be ahead of me,” Norris concluded.

How did Lando compare against Ricciardo at Monaco?

The 21-year-old was impressive throughout the whole weekend at Monte Carlo. Whereas his Australian teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, struggled to find his pace throughout. In qualifying, Daniel only managed to put in the 12th fastest lap in Q2, but Lando got into Q3 and put in the fourth fastest lap.

On race day, Ricciardo was still struggling around the circuit, a place where he won back in 2018. Lando, on the other hand, was having an amazing race was set to bag another podium for McLaren, which he did.

So far this season, it’s Norris who is bringing in crucial points for the Woking-based team while Ricciardo is still struggling to find his feet in the orange car.

There is still a long way to go, but do you think the Australian will manage to catch up to, or even defeat, Norris? Let us know in the comments below.

Read More: ‘That Was a Cheers’ – Lando Norris Clarifies ‘Wave’ to Daniel Ricciardo in Monaco