F1 sprint race 'removed fear of mistakes' - Lando Norris

Norris at Azerbaijan — Photo: © LAT Images

McLaren

F1 sprint race 'removed fear of mistakes' - Norris

Locking brakes carried a lower penalty for most in the Baku restart

Sam Hall

Friday 11 June 2021 16:10

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Lando Norris has revealed the two-lap sprint race that ended the Azerbaijan Grand Prix allowed drivers to compete without fear of errors such as locking up.

Despite Lewis Hamilton's race-defining incident at the first corner of the restarted race, Norris commented he had enjoyed the flat-out dash to the flag.

The McLaren driver, however, conceded his opinion would have been different had he not gained positions en route to finishing fifth.

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“It was good fun," said Norris. "One of the nicest things was just the amount of grip we had because the soft tyre, very low fuel, you can push a lot so it was a bit easier. You’re not as scared of front locking and things like that.

“But it was good. It was good for us because we gained positions. It could have been the opposite, I could have gone backwards and said it was terrible but it’s the way it is. It helped us out so I’m happy with that.”

Not such a crazy race

Norris started the race ninth after being hit with a three-place grid penalty for failing to observe red-flag procedures during qualifying.

Asked if he had enjoyed the "crazy race", Norris said: "Not that crazy really.

"The race was a little bit [crazy] towards the end. The middle bit was quite boring, just nothing to do. I wasn’t catching ahead, too difficult to overtake and whatever.

“The last few safety cars and restart made it a bit more fun and it’s what we needed because it was too difficult to overtake for the rest of the race so I’m happy with P5.

"A good amount of points and I don’t think we could have done a lot more. I just lost out on lap one. Apart from that, it was a pretty solid race.”