Lando Norris (4th) is self-critical: “I let McLaren down”

McLaren performed better than expected at the Singapore Night Grand Prix: Lando Norris finished fourth after starting from fifth on the grid, benefiting from Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari running out of tyres towards the end, whilst Oscar Piastri also had reason to be grateful, finishing fifth after a hard-fought race, having started from seventh.

This is a solid result for the Papaya team following the embarrassment in the Sprint (the collision between Norris and Piastri), but it naturally falls short of the standards expected of the 2024 and 2025 Constructors’ World Champions.

Lando Norris, who hasn’t been on the podium for three races, suddenly struck a self-critical note after the Grand Prix. As a reminder: in the sprint, Lando had crashed into Oscar of all people, knocking the Australian out of the race, whilst Norrie himself could only manage eighth in the short race. Team principal Andrea Stelle was furious and described the collision as “unacceptable”.

Immediately after the Sprint, Norris was rather unrepentant. “There was a big gap, and I slotted into it. I’m fully within my rights to do that.”

Speaking on Viaplay, Lando said: “What do you call this event? What comes after the sprint?” A fellow journalist replied: “Er, the race?” Lando, ironically: “Wow, well done. Yes, it’s a race.”

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After the Grand Prix and Norris’s fourth-place finish, that suddenly sounds different, as the 26-year-old Englishman now says: “I can’t try that. I should never have attempted it, even if there was a chance to overtake.”

“I need to think more about the team than about myself. That was a mistake on my part; I let the team down. I owe everyone an apology. I want to do better next time.”

Speaking about his Grand Prix, Norris says: “I can look at this in two ways. Firstly, it’s not a bad result for us. I think P4 is as good as we could have done on the day.”

“I should have done a better job of getting to third place. I should have positioned my car a bit better against Hamilton without running off the track and letting Kimi through that way.”

“Otherwise, P4 is the best we could have achieved today. I’m glad we managed that, but of course we want more.”

“Red Bull Racing currently seems to be the team to beat, and they’ve significantly improved the car over the last few weeks. We, on the other hand, have slipped to fourth place amongst the top teams.”

“I’m not satisfied with fourth place; I want to be on the podium, I want to fight for wins. We must continue to try to improve and bring in upgrades to make the car faster.”