Chinese GP 2024: Why Lando Norris’ Lap Was Reinstated

Let’s rewind time by about 6 months. Lando Norris put his McLaren on the front row at Qatar, but it was stripped away from him due to track limits violations. A similar incident happened today at the Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying, where his lap time was deleted but was eventually reinstated by the stewards. But why was it reinstated?

The Sprint Qualifying session at the Chinese GP was arguably one of the best ones that we’ve seen in recent times, with some even comparing it to last year’s Belgium GP Sprint qualifying. The rain hit the track at the end of SQ2 and was persistent throughout SQ3. During the first laps in SQ3, all the drivers were finding it difficult to keep their car on track, and it felt more like a rally qualifying than F1, with all the off-track excursions.

Lando Norris was one of the first drivers to set a competitive lap time as Charles Leclerc lost it and went into the barriers but was able to continue. Unfortunately, Lando Norris’ lap time, which was good for a provisional pole, was deleted due to track limits. But the Brit had another chance at it toward the end of the session and put his McLaren on pole, once again. However, he went off track again at the last corner, and his lap time, which was good enough for the pole, was deleted once again.

But in an interesting turn of events, it was reinstated by the stewards by themselves without an appeal from the team. Speaking about this incident post-Sprint qualifying, Andrea Stella said, “It was reinstated by the FIA themselves. You go off at the last corner, you launch at much lower speed, and effectively Lando loses almost three-tenths because he’s been off at the previous last corner.”

According to Stella, Norris didn’t gain any lap time by going off track, but in fact lost time and yet was able to put his car on the pole with a 1.2-second gap to Lewis Hamilton in P2. What a mega job by the young Briton! But, what was going through Norris’ mind as succeeded in securing a good qualifying result for himself and the team?

“The pace is good whether it’s wet or dry”: Lando Norris post Sprint Qualifying

Coming into the Chinese GP, McLaren wasn’t hopeful of scoring big points as the Shanghai International Circuit features loads of slow to medium-speed technical corners, which is the team’s supposed Achilles heel. Regardless, McLaren showed great pace in the dry running in Practice, and was also super strong during the wets in Qualifying. 

Lando Norris said, “I am extremely happy first of all. It was tricky. I was quite happy with how it was dry. We had good pace, but I was nervous. I kept catching the Ferrari’s and the first two laps. I aborted on both so it was all or nothing. A nice surprise, good position for tomorrow.” He continued, “The pace is good whether it’s wet or dry. The team has done a good job with the car, and I feel good too.”

McLaren is looking forward to a strong weekend given their pace in dry and wet. What do you think? Will Lando Norris put it on a pole for the main race qualifying as well?