"I planned to do it since Brazil": Lando Norris on why he forfeited the F1 Qatar GP race win to Oscar Piastri
McLaren driver Lando Norris has claimed that he had planned to give a win back to teammate Oscar Piastri since the latter did the same for him at the Brazilian GP. The British driver led the Sprint race throughout and got off the line from George Russell, who was passed by Piastri into Turn 2 to give the Woking-based team a crucial 1-2.
The duo worked in tandem as Norris provided the necessary DRS to his teammate in his defense against a charging Russell for the majority of the race. However, he surprised everyone by slowing down and giving the Sprint win to the Aussie as a payback for the latter doing the same in Brazil.
In his post-race interview with F1TV, Lando Norris explained his switch at the line and said:
"It was probably a bit closer than what I was wanting, but I planned to do it since Brazil. It's just what I thought was best. It's probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it but I thought I could get away with it, and we did.
"Honestly, I don't mind. I'm not here to win Sprint races, I'm here to win [Grand Prix] races - and a championship, but that's not gone to plan. But I did the best we could and I look forward to tomorrow."
Lando Norris analyzes his P2 finish at the Sprint race in Qatar
McLaren driver Lando Norris stated that he and Oscar Piastri maximized the results as they brought home a 1-2 for the team at the end of the Sprint in the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday.
He told the media about his race and said:
"We scored one-two and that's what we were aiming for today. We've got maximum points, so we're happy. We're happy as a team, we've executed things perfectly.
"The pace was good, I probably could have pushed a little bit more than what I was doing, but we wanted to keep the others behind so we tried to help out and not let George get too close. We did our job and that's the main thing."
The 15 points were crucial for the British team as it pulled a six-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship, increasing the gap to 30 points with two races remaining in the 2024 season.