Lando Norris 'thanks God' he escaped contact in Monza qualifying chaos

Lando Norris, Monza, McLaren — Photo: © LAT Images

Italian Grand Prix

Norris 'thanks God' he escaped contact in Monza qualifying chaos

Norris will start sprint fourth behind the two Mercedes drivers and Verstappen

Sam Hall

Friday 10 September 2021 22:20

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Lando Norris has 'thanked God' he was able to negotiate the qualifying mayhem that again unfolded at Monza.

In both Q1 and Q2, numerous drivers fell victim to the typical Italian Grand Prix traffic jam as drivers conducted a slow out lap in order to preserve their tyres and negotiate a tow.

In Q1, Norris approached the Curva Alboreto - formerly the Parabolica but has been renamed from this weekend in honour of former Ferrari driver Michele - when he was greeted by rows of traffic on both sides of the circuit.

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“To be honest, it wasn’t a nice position to be in because something can happen so quickly," Norris told Sky Sports F1. "Especially because there were some cars on the left, some on the right.

"You don’t know if they’re suddenly going to switch from the left to the right or maybe they’ve seen you, maybe they’ve not.

“You don’t know this. You don’t know what they’re thinking or what they’ve been told."

He added: “I made it through safely, thank God.

"It’s always a bit of a problem here at Monza but it’s never a nice position to be in, having to swerve between people and not knowing if something happens, how quickly it can all go very wrong.”

With some drivers approaching the final corner flat out, the smallest movement from a slower driver could be enough to cause a major incident.

Norris was not the only driver to be caught out by the chaos as Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly were also among those hindered.

One of the drivers in Norris' path was his former team-mate Carlos Sainz.

With a grin, Norris said: “Obviously, I’m coming on my push lap and I had to kind of swerve between them a little bit and then got held up by the Ferrari.

"Then I actually lost my lap because I ran wide because of the Ferrari."