The rules of survival never change, whether one is on a racetrack or in an arena. Lando Norris has come forward and revealed the secret to surviving the demolition derby that took place during the latter stages of the Australian GP. While revealing the secret, the Briton conveniently took a light jab at the drivers involved in the demolition. Are Norris’ comments justified or is he just pitching remarks to make up for McLaren’s poor start to the season?

Survival in the 2023 Australian GP was nothing short of a miracle. Charles Leclerc retired on the first lap after turning into Lance Stroll, which led to the Ferrari being beached in the gravel. Alex Albon crashed on Lap 7 when he over-steered in turn 6 and crashed into turn 7 causing a Red Flag. Russell retired a few laps later, causing a virtual safety car. Later in the race, Kevin Magnussen crashed on Lap 54 after hitting the wall outside of turns 1 and 2, causing a second Red Flag on Lap 55. The restart on Lap 57 was when the actual demolition derby began.

Carlos Sainz tapped the rear of Fernando Alonso, both Alpines crashed into each other, Lance Stroll and Sergio Perez went straight on into the gravel, and Logan Sargeant drove straight into the rear of Nyck de Vries. McLaren and Alfa Romeo were the only teams not involved in any incident. Lando Norris explains how his Mclaren managed to survive the chaos. The Briton believes half the job was to stay away from damage and avoid people who get a bit out of control, throwing a jab at the drivers guilty of the crashes. 

According to a video posted by SkysportsF1 on Twitter, Lando Norris said “For the majority of the race the pace was pretty strong, and I had a good start and stayed out of trouble, stayed away from damage. Half the job just seems to be avoiding people who are a bit out of control and making a lot of mistakes and crashing into people…”

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A total of 8 cars retired from the race and only 12 managed to finish the race. But what exactly was the reason for so many retirements if we don’t account for the driver errors?

What was the reason for so many retirements at Albert Park?

Carlos Sainz, Kevin Magnussen, and Alex Albon’s crashes were caused because of errors in the driver’s judgment. George Russell’s retirement was an engine blowout, meaning a technical failure. But the Lap 57 mayhem caused half of the retirements and the majority of crashes. Lando Norris believes the slow-out lap at the restart meant the tires were cold and did not provide enough grip. And since it was a 2 lap showdown, everybody wanted to push and make places. This led to a series of lockups and errors causing crashes all over sector 1. 

According to gpblog.com, Lando Norris said, “It’s such a slow lap at the restart you can’t get the tires in. It was obvious with the tires cold into turn 1, you are going to lock fronts and when you are racing you want to brake later than others then you make mistakes.”

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What’s your take on Lando Norris’ comments? Is playing safe the way to go forward during such tricky conditions? Or you believe in Senna’s words, “If you no longer go for a gap which exists you are no longer a racing driver”