Just a step away from winning the Sprint in Qatar, Lando Norris decided to return the favor to Oscar Piastri and let him take the victory, balancing things out in a season that, for him, has little left to offer other than helping McLaren secure the Constructors’ Championship.
Norris moved aside on the exit of the final corner on lap 19 of 19, allowing Piastri to pass while placing himself between his teammate and the first of the pursuers, George Russell. This maneuver kept the one-two finish for the Woking team, increasing their lead over Ferrari, which finished only fourth and fifth.
“We achieved the goal for today, we did everything perfectly,” Lando Norris said after the Sprint. “The pace was good, and I could have done more, but I chose to help Oscar so we wouldn’t get passed by Russell and secure the one-two.”
Norris explained that the idea of giving the Sprint win to Piastri had been in his mind for a few weeks, since the Brazilian Grand Prix, when Formula 1 used the Sprint format for the penultimate weekend of the season.
“We were quite close, but I’ve wanted to do it since Brazil. I thought it was the best thing to do. I’m here not to win Sprint races but to win races and the championship. Now we focus on tomorrow, even though we know it will be tough because it’s windy and cold. It might even be harder than last year. But we’ll try to bring it home tomorrow.”
A favor to reset things to zero. Not so much for this year, but for next year, when Norris and Piastri might both be in the title fight against other teams, given Ferrari and Mercedes’ strong performance in the second half of 2024.
Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, faced a race that, without Norris’ help, would have been much harder. The pass on Russell early in the race helped him avoid exhausting his front tires too quickly, but the DRS from his teammate protected him from Russell’s attacks in the only tricky section: the start/finish straight.
“The overtake on Russell made all the difference throughout the race. I didn’t have the pace and ruined my front tires at the start of the race. Without Lando’s help, it would have been a very difficult race for me, but I thank him for helping me, and together we got the one-two.”
“In other tracks, we see bigger differences in terms of the circuit. We’ll still need to work on improving the car for tomorrow. I think I can fight for pole, but we’re all very close, as we saw yesterday. We have a chance, but our competitors are there.”
At the end of the Sprint, McLaren CEO Zak Brown commented on the one-two finish and Norris’ maneuver for Piastri: “Lando and Oscar are great teammates, I think they proved that today with how they helped each other, even while racing for the team. Oscar helped Lando in Brazil, and I think Lando said thank you today.”
“The swap at the end wasn’t our plan. Our plan was to get the one-two. But it was a very close race. It was Lando’s decision.”
Leave a Reply