Rand Norris entered the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, taking a three-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri in the drivers championship.
However, a crash in the third quarter on Saturday led Norris to stop his hind legs and the McLaren driver rolled out of the 10th line when the lights went out on the Jeddah Cornish circuit. Norris started on hard tires, went on long, picked up multiple locations with an elongated stint, as opposed to the rest of the top 10, which all began with medium compounds. After all the leaders made pit stops, he took over the lead on lap 30, but eventually settled on a fourth-place finish, slightly behind third-place finisher Charles Leclair.
It was another strong recovery drive from the McLaren driver, but it wasn’t enough to just take the lead in the driver’s championship. With Piastri ahead of Max Verstappen, Norris’ teammates are at the top of the table, with a 10-point advantage.
“That was tough,” Norris admitted while speaking to the official F1 channel. “This truck is difficult, this temperature is difficult, it’s completely out. I can’t save money on the tires here, it’s completely from start to finish. I was struggling, not physically, it has a good advantage over the rest, and it’s just coming back.
“It would have been good to get Charles and get a little podium, and I love it, so now I drink all the champagne.
“But I think the best we could achieve today was. Obviously, we’re not heads and shoulders more than others.”
Norris admits that he is not only looking forward to the break, but he is only looking forward to the break, as Grid takes a week before the Miami Grand Prix, but also makes his life difficult at times.
“As Oscar showed, it’s not an easy race. If he didn’t have a penalty, Max would probably have won. We still have that kind of problem. It’s not an easy race. That means that when I made a mistake like yesterday, I haven’t made my life quite difficult, so I haven’t made my life quite difficult like today,” Norris added.
“I’m still happy. I’m happy with my comeback. It’s the best I can achieve and I look forward to the break.”
Norris pointed to Saturday when it came to where he needed to improve. As we saw on Saturday at Saudi Arabia’s Grand Prix, the extra risk inside the car could lead to disasters, especially with trucks that punish mistakes like the Jeddah Cornish Circuit.
“It’s my Quali. It’s my Saturday. It’s my Saturday. It’s my one lap pace. Like I said before, it’s because I’m struggling with the car a little. Saturday isn’t a car and I’m trying to take too much risk, so I tried to get it back,” Norris continued.
“Obviously, I have a pace. It’s all there. It’s sometimes a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a bit of a keen desire to put together the most perfect rap. You need to relax a little.”
Now Norris returned to Miami, where he secured his first Grand Prix victory a year ago. With the McLaren Grandstand, some of the fans sitting together to honor the team, and the Otome Grand Prix victory, the circuit looks a little different from 2024.
Does it help Norris “relax” a bit? You’ll find out in a few weeks.
