Lando Norris reflects on his costly Canadian GP error, owning up to it and focusing on bouncing back stronger for upcoming races.
Lando Norris does not want to hide the mistake he made in Canada, nor make excuses for it. The McLaren F1 driver wants to move on and get back to performing well, turning the Canadian GP into nothing more than a bad memory.
“What happened, happened. I regretted it at the time and I apologised,” Norris told Sky Sports News. “Unfortunately, that’s also racing. I take responsibility and I need to move forward.”
“I need to look ahead to the next race and see how I can do a better job and avoid making these stupid mistakes at certain moments. There are a lot of positives, and I will make sure to focus on them and build on what I have, because once I find a good rhythm, I’m sure I’ll be very happy.”
Jenson Button believes these are the kind of moments that are bound to happen in a teammate battle, noting that he and Lewis Hamilton collided in the same spot back in 2011: “I love the intra-team fight because it’s about the World Championship battle. It’s good that they’re giving everything they’ve got.”
“This is a moment for them where they have to take the bull by the horns because you don’t know when the next opportunity will come, or if it ever will, due to rule changes. They’re both fighting for the World Championship, but this sort of thing happens.”
“Lewis and I collided 14 years ago on the same straight. It happens. This is the time to see whether Lando is in a good frame of mind and whether he’ll come out stronger. I think he will, in terms of confidence in his abilities and his drive to give everything, so I’m looking forward to seeing him push ahead.”
According to Jacques Villeneuve, who controversially argued that Oscar Piastri shared some of the blame, Norris will now have a better understanding of his teammate’s approach: “Norris now knows what Piastri will do in races. He won’t be caught off guard anymore.”
“He was quicker. He’s generally quicker in the race. He just needs to get on top of qualifying because it’s been up and down, but he still has the edge in terms of pace. He’s behind in the standings, so he’s more of the underdog, and that could work in his favour.”