‘I was lucky’ – Lando Norris suffers ‘worst nightmare’ during Chinese Grand Prix
'We survived and made it to the end.'
Lando Norris admitted he was lucky to hold onto second place after a brake issue almost hampered his race at the Chinese Grand Prix.
Norris started the race in third place but managed to overtake fellow Brit George Russell on the opening lap.
The McLaren and Mercedes traded places throughout the race in Shanghai before Norris appeared to pull clear in the closing stages.
However, Norris was made to sweat in the closing stages as a brake issue threatened to derail his race, with the 25-year-old forced to lay off his bid to catch teammate Oscar Piastri at the front of the race and instead ensure the car got home just ahead of Russell.
In the end, Norris was just 1.5 seconds ahead of Russell as he crossed the chequered flag, with the McLaren driver admitting he may well had been overtaken had the race continued for another lap.
‘It’s scary, it is like my worst nightmare, brakes failing,’ the Brit said after the race. ‘I was losing two, three, four seconds the last couple of laps so I was a bit scared.
‘We survived and made it to the end. I would have liked to give it a bit of a try and put Oscar under a bit of pressure but not today, we’re satisfied, great result and we’ll go again next time.’
Asked about the state of his brakes after the final lap: ‘[Russell] would have got me [on the next lap].
‘I was lucky. Lucky to finish the race today and that’s not something you want to be saying.’
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, meanwhile, praised Norris’ in-race management to get the car home safely and hold onto his second-place finish.
‘Around 15-20 laps to end we started to develop a problem for Lando on the brake pedal,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘Lando did a very good job together with the team to manage through the problem, adapting the driving style that it didn’t become a a terminal problem. So not without some tension, we bring home a P1-P2.’
The McLaren 1-2 continues a superb start to the season for the British team after Norris won the curtain-raiser in Australia last weekend.
Piastri’s third career F1 win extends McLaren’s lead in the Constructors’ Championship, with the Australian keen to laud the efforts of his entire team after a near-perfect week in China.
‘It’s been an incredible weekend from start to finish, the car has been pretty mega the whole time,’ Piastri said.
‘I think today was a bit of a surprise with how the tyres behaved but I’m super proud and what I feel like I deserve from last week. I’m extremely happy and the team did a mega job, a one-two obviously, I’m very happy.’
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