LANDO NORRIS is once again making too many mistakes to become a world champion after a chaotic weekend in Bahrain left him “hurting”.
The McLaren driver had to settle for third, while team-mate Oscar Piastri showed him up with an expert drive to soar across the finish line more than 15 SECONDS clear of George Russell in second.
Norris, 25, was plagued by errors last season, with his mentality being questioned when he choked on a number of occasions in a fierce title fight with Max Verstappen.
There is no doubt the Brit is one of the finest drivers on the grid — and capable of leaving the rest for dust when he is on form.
But his world title advantage is down to just three points over Piastri, while world champion Verstappen’s deficit has grown to eight points after finishing in sixth.
It was chaotic from the very start for Norris, who could only manage a woeful sixth place in qualifying, despite sitting in the fastest car.
READ MORE ON F1
He was then guilty of a glaringly obvious false start to the race and slapped with a five-second penalty after soaring from sixth to third on the grid.
Verstappen stuck the knife in as replays showed the Dutchman, who started one place behind him in seventh, snitching on his team radio, saying: “Lando is over his grid box.”
Norris also stuttered with his overtakes, failing to get past Russell on the final lap despite the Mercedes man driving a broken car at that point.
He had also made a mess of getting past Lewis Hamilton earlier on, going off the track and momentarily handing the place back before nipping up into third again.
Most read in Motorsport
BEST ONLINE CASINOS – TOP SITES IN THE UK
Norris said: “Something is just not clicking with me in the car.
“I’m not able to do any of the laps that I was doing last season.
“I felt on top of the car. This year could not have felt more opposite so far. And even in Australia, whether or not I won the race, I never felt comfortable, never felt confident.
“The car was just mega. And that’s helping me get out of a lot of problems at the minute.
“I’m just nowhere near the capability that I have, which hurts to say.
“I have spent a lot of time …. even last night I left late … to look into everything and understand what I’m struggling with.”
THE new Formula One season is up and running and has already seen huge drama in the opening weeks.
A massive summer of change saw Lewis Hamilton move on from Mercedes and join Ferrari, while the McLaren pair of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have hope of ending Max Verstappen’s recent dominance.
The Red Bull ace is hoping for a record-equalling FIFTH consecutive world title.
INFORMATION
LATEST NEWS
SEASON SO FAR
The Ferraris produced a solid performance with Charles Leclerc fourth and Hamilton fifth.
Verstappen was grumbling throughout after suffering a double whammy of pit-stop chaos.
His moaning began on lap 11 when he was seething as the red light on Red Bull’s pit gantry stayed on once a tyre change was finished, despite the pit lane being clear.
Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli overtook four-time world champion Verstappen on lap 20, with no answer from the Dutchman.
Hamilton’s turn came next as he overtook Jack Doohan and then Verstappen with a brilliant double move on lap 22.
By now, 27-year-old Verstappen was seething and he blasted on his team radio: “I can’t even brake any more. It’s just ridiculous.”
The Ferraris finally came alive and Leclerc squeezed past Norris for third and Hamilton slipped past Antonelli for fifth.
Verstappen was pulling his hair out when he suffered yet another pit-stop nightmare after a gamble with hard tyres did not pay off.
A sticky front-right tyre left him in the pits for 6.2 seconds and he rejoined in 19th place.
The safety car was deployed on lap 32 owing to debris on the track — and all of the top five drivers pitted.
When it had cleared, Hamilton showed the young bucks how to do it with an epic overtake on Norris.
The McLaren driver appeared to nip back ahead but went off the track and had to give the place back.
He did eventually get back ahead of seven-time world champ Hamilton a few laps later.
Verstappen had stormed back up to seventh, where he had started, with 17 laps to go.
The fight for the final podium spot was on, with Norris snapping at Leclerc’s heels in third place.
The McLaren driver very nearly nipped past with eight laps to go but Leclerc held him off by the skin of his teeth before Norris eventually had him.
Russell was in a spot of bother late on – but escaped a penalty – as he was investigated for “accidently opening DRS”.
Read More on The Sun
He was having problems with the dash on his car anyway as Norris was hunting him down.
Norris had his last chance to take second as he went wheel to wheel with Russell on the final lap but the Mercedes man just held him off.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
