Lando Norris suspects he could have salvaged a points finish after colliding with Max Verstappen in yesterday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver retired from the race in the pits after the pair collided at turn three on the 64th lap of 71. However while Norris subsequently retired, Verstappen was able to rejoin the race and finish fifth.Afterwards Norris admitted he could have lessened the damage to his car by driving back more slowly. “There’s a lot of damage on the car,” he told the official F1 channel.
“The car’s completely destroyed now, so, it’s a shame. You want to keep driving and if I got back to the pits in a better way, I could have gone out and got some points, but the car was too badly broken.”
The two drivers sustained rear tyre punctures in the collision at turn three – Verstappen on the left-hand side of his car, Norris the right. He immediately told the team the car was too damaged to continue, but his race engineer replied it was “just a puncture”.
Norris passed Verstappen’s damaged car at turn four, then the Red Bull driver re-passed him at turn eight. As he arrived in the pits Norris told the team they should retire the car, and although the crew initially tried to repair it, they soon abandoned their efforts to get him back in the race.
The McLaren driver was pleased with his efforts in the race prior to the collision. “I feel like I drove a good race,” he said. “I kept myself in the fight the whole time.
“It was very difficult on-track, easy to make mistakes, difficult to drive because of the wind and conditions and things like that.”
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Norris’ radio after his collision with Verstappen
| Norris | Yeah the car’s fucked. |
| Joseph | It’s just a puncture. Box this lap, box this lap. |
| Engineer | Red A10, red A10. |
| Engineer | Diff red A10. |
| Joseph | Red A10, please, red A10. |
| Norris | I’m in red A10, mate, are you blind? |
| Norris | He enters the pits It’s too much damage, okay, it’s better to just retire now. |
| Norris | McLaren attempt to repair his car Let’s not waste mileage because if we can’t get points there’s no point doing it. |
| Joseph | We’ll keep going, mate. |
| Joseph | Okay. Turn it off, please, turn it off. |
Verstappen’s radio after his collision with Norris
| Verstappen | Nice. Oh my god. |
| Lambiase | Box Max. Box. Got rear-left puncture. Box. |
| Lambiase | Tyre 13. Tyre one-three. |
| Lambiase | Look out for the white line pit lane entry. |
| Lambiase | And just a reminder strat 12 in pit lane. |
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2024 Austrian Grand Prix
- Austrian GP clash will have taught Norris how to race Verstappen – Ricciardo
- Verstappen was “lucky” tyre damage didn’t force him to retire like Norris
- Pirelli introducing new C6 tyre to improve racing on street tracks next year
- Norris admits ‘overreacting’ but queries why Verstappen avoided track limits penalty
- Norris and Verstappen’s Austrian GP collision “blown out of proportion” – rivals
Red Andy (@red-andy)
1st July 2024, 7:20
“Unsafe condition” anyone?
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
1st July 2024, 7:33
For which one of them? I feel like both cars merited going to the pits, it was reasonably possible to repair them. Neither Verstappen or Norris can be faulted for trying to secure some points.
This compares to when Perez lost his rear wing and continued back in Canada, something every team and every driver knows cannot be fixed in a reasonable time and therefore would not be able to rejoin the race.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
1st July 2024, 9:04
Norris, primarily. He was shedding so much debris on his way back to the pits they had to throw a VSC and close the pit entry. If Perez deserved a penalty for the possibility that his rear wing might fall off, Norris should surely get one for the actual bits falling off his McLaren.
Laz
1st July 2024, 9:21
I don’t recall anyone in the past getting a penalty for a puncture disintegrating on them on their way back to the pits. Drivers can’t be expected to predict for that, and Norris started shedding bits on the final corner before pitlane so he didn’t have much time to react when the tyre disintegrated.
It’s not like Canada where Perez car was very clearly damaged beyond repair with the rear wing hanging off the back while he dragged it around for half a lap. Norris car looked like it could continue and he would be able to collect points.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st July 2024, 11:07
In some circumstances it’s possible to repair rear wings in a reasonable time, such as safety cars and if they allow you to unlap yourself.
Peyton
2nd July 2024, 6:23
What? Name one case where this happened in F1.
I watch from the 90s and don’t remember any such case but would love to find a case.
Red Andy (@red-andy)
3rd July 2024, 7:21
Spa 1998, David Coulthard lost his rear wing in a collision with Michael Schumacher, but returned to the track to complete the race. Albeit he was five laps down when he rejoined.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st July 2024, 11:23
@red-andy Yeah we had that on the list too! We’ve taken a look at this here:
How Norris avoided two British GP penalties after collision with Verstappen
Chris (@austin-healey)
1st July 2024, 7:56
Keith,
Does the radio messages indicate they held Norris to serve his 5 second penalty before they touched the car? So he didn’t get a penalty carried forward for Silverstone?
Christopher Rehn (@chrischrill)
1st July 2024, 8:55
They did serve it, yes, before beginning work on the car. However I am not sure if it counts, because he never rejoined the track again. I guess it did count, or they would have issued a document from the FIA by now.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
1st July 2024, 9:13
@austin-healey They did serve it in the pits, but it didn’t matter in the end as he was classified (completed more than 90% of the race distance) anyway and so the five seconds was added to his race time.
Drop Saudi
1st July 2024, 11:12
How does that work, is it officially x laps plus 5 seconds?
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st July 2024, 11:25
Ah, saw someone else who said it, it must’ve been marginal then cause they collided on lap 64 of a 71 laps race, but I guess he could’ve gone past the finish line in the pits.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
1st July 2024, 11:27
Well, actually, even if he didn’t get past the finish line, 64 laps are still barely enough, I was under the impression they had to do more laps than that to be classified, I thought 95%.
someone or something
1st July 2024, 14:06
It’s 90%. Or rather, 10% less than the scheduled race distance, generously rounded up to the next full lap. You can retire after completing 63/71 laps in Austria and still be classified.
Chris (@austin-healey)
2nd July 2024, 3:45
Thank you Keith.
Osnola
1st July 2024, 10:51
So again the frustration got the better of him and he needlessly ruined his car.
Lots of mistakes by lando recently.
He closed in on verstappen by ignoring the track limits. He tried several overtakes, again ignoring track limits and tried to pass on the outside in closing corner.
Btw was the cause of the puncture the mclaren killer wing?