Norris puncture "ruined everything" in Qatar

Lando Norris has claimed a puncture in the Qatar Grand Prix "ruined everything" with the McLaren driver confident he had been on for a top-five result.

McLaren had scored just two points from the first two races of the triple-header with Norris finishing 10th in both Mexico City and Brazil.

The Briton had been on course for his best result since finishing second in the Italian GP in September when he suffered a puncture on lap 50 of 57, with Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi all suffering similar, although more dramatic, failures to their front-left tyres.

"We didn’t judge it [the race] too well as a team," Norris told Sky Sports.

“I couldn’t push as much as I wanted too for some reason but I guess the puncture really ruined everything. We should have been P4.

“Actually, I see Perez almost caught Fernando [Alonso] so maybe I would have been P5. But still, we should have had a lot of points today and we didn’t because the tyre broke.”

Norris eventually crossed the line ninth although with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo only 12th after suffering his own issues, McLaren again lost ground to Ferrari in the constructors' championship.

He added: "It’s not our fault. Nothing we can say. We did the best job we can and I’m proud of what we did.

“Of course, some things we should have done much better but it wasn’t our fault that we ended P9. We should have been P4 or P5.

“It kinda sucks, because you put so much effort in and for something to happen that shouldn’t happen, it just disappoints you a lot.”

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