Norris can't hide his frustration after Qatar Sprint won by McLaren team-mate

08 October 2023 , 11:51

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Norris can't hide his frustration after Qatar Sprint won by McLaren team-mate

Lando Norris admits it "hurt" to watch Oscar Piastri claim the Sprint victory in Qatar as his own wait for a win goes on.

The McLaren star has now been in F1 for five years and, despite being regarded by many as a generational talent, he is yet to take the chequered flag despite performing at a consistently high level. Piastri is in his debut year and show his class across 19 laps in Lusail.

Norris has previously seen a team-mate in Daniel Ricciardo take a race win ahead of him back in Monza two years ago and, once again, his seen the man driving the same car as him beat him to the chequered flag with his frustration evident.

He said in Qatar: “First of all, congrats to Oscar and congrats to Max. His first win – earlier than mine – so a big well done to him. A tough race for me. A bad start made everything much trickier, but we fought back well – some fun racing, good overtakes all the way until the last lap on George. So tough, but another podium for us and for our team it’s been a mega day.”

Norris accepted that his Australian colleague was a justified winner in the Middle East, bemoaning his own errors. “I hope so (that his first win is coming). I’ve been trying a long time, but Oscar’s done a mega job. He was on pole this weekend. I made a lot of the mistakes and he hasn’t and he’s capitalised and he’s done a better job, so just hats off to him.”

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The 23-year-old has finished second on four occasions already this year and is on course to record his highest ever points total. However he opened up on the difficulties he's faced mentally as he juggles being happy for the team with his own personal ambitions.

Oscar Piastri claimed victory in the Sprint Race

“The last two days, they take over everything. I think of the negative things way more than the positive things," he admitted. "It’s just me, it’s not like [it’s] a problem. It’s just the way I think, it’s the way my head works. I’m very happy for the team, I’m happy for Oscar. He’s beat me to a win so congrats to him.

“Of course, it’s never the nicest feeling. It hurts me. It just hurts me that I’ve messed up this morning, I should be on pole and should at least be P1 or P2 yesterday for the race tomorrow. So I guess it’s just when it counts. This is a weekend when it counts and I just made too many mistakes. It just annoys me to such a high level.

“I try to reset and refocus and not think of it, but it’s impossible for me to not think of it. Just frustrating because it’s just the shoulda, woulda, coulda stuff. Oscar’s done a better job than me this weekend and he deserves to be in the position he has done today. I’m starting where I deserve to be because I’ve just done a bad job.

Samuel Meade