Norris Blames ‘Stupid’ Perez for Incident at Austrian GP

Lando Norris showcased an incredible level of racing on Sunday to secure his third podium of the season, as he crossed the finishing line in P3 at the Austrian GP.

Of course, it was refreshing to see a McLaren on the podium, but what’s interesting is that Norris had enough pace to even beat Valtteri Bottas to finish in P2.

However, his hopes of holding onto P2 were massively sabotaged by Sergio Perez early on lap 4, when the Mexican attempted a move around the outside of turn 4.

Read More: Austrian GP Race Report

In the end, not only did he fail to make the move, but he also ran wide off the track, forcing the stewards to hand Norris a 5-second time penalty. Hence, following the race, Norris wasn’t particularly pleased with the result and reckoned it was a stupid move from Perez.

What did Lando Norris say?

During the post-race interview on the parc ferme, Norris reckoned that his on-track feud with Perez was more of a racing incident.

“First of all, I wanna say big thanks to everyone, all the fans. It was a lot of fun, it was a good race. It was exciting, but, I’m disappointed because we should have been in second place. So, I don’t know,” he said.

“I thought that lap 1 was just a racing [incident], really. He tried to go around the outside, which was a bit stupid. And he ran off the track himself, I didn’t even push him.”

Norris definitely had every chance of securing P2 in Austria. The Briton was already two threats short, with Hamilton showing visible struggles after suffering damage to his car. Meanwhile, Perez was over 20 seconds behind the top-4, leaving Norris with the least amount of threat from behind.

Norris hails good pace for McLaren at the Austrian GP

It was undeniably a massively positive race for Norris, having embraced the chance to race with the title contenders, Mercedes. However, his teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, too was enjoying a race of his own.

The Australian, having started the race from P13, managed to bring his car up to P7 by the time the checkered flag was waved over the session.

“I’m frustrated but I’m also happy with P3. We had very good pace and, yeah, I’m happy with the result,” Norris said.

Overall, despite a bittersweet qualifying session on Saturday, McLaren utilized the track conditions to their absolute advantage, as they take home a healthy 21 points out of the race weekend.

This also means that they’ve managed to extend their gap to Ferrari on the constructor’s table. Hence, can they continue to deliver such performances to ultimately secure P3 for the second consecutive season?

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