Lando Norris had a phenomenal weekend in Melbourne, as he started from pole and ended the race on the top step of the podium. Of course, it wasn’t completely relaxing or smooth sailing for the British driver.
“It was a little bit stressful, I’m not going to lie,” Norris shared, “but amazing way to start the year. A tough one because we went off and we made some big mistakes. Just tricky conditions. These are the ones that are enjoyable and fun and unpredictable. But this time we got it right and we ended up on top. So I’m very happy. We got it wrong a lot last year. So I guess we learned from our mistakes. Still only round 1 of 24 but dealing with the pressure, dealing with Max, dealing with Oscar behind me, I was pushing the whole way through. A tough challenging race but I mean for McLaren I need to give a big thanks because they’ve given me an amazing car.”
Norris also commented on his on-track battles with Verstappen, saying, “I knew I had good pace but I made one mistake in turn 6 and got within the DRS[…]. That allowed him to keep staying within that one second and have a couple of like little looks. And I had to check my mirror a few more times than what I would have liked,” he continued, “but I stayed calm and I kept it together.”
However, even after his amazing race, the Championship has barely just begun, so can he continue with this impressive pace?
The McLaren driver added, “My weekend’s been amazing from the get-go, from FP1, FP2, FP3, quali and now the race. It’s not easy to put a weekend together like this, especially when I got a lot of pressure from Max and from Oscar because they’re hungry and they’re competitive and they want it just as badly. I know what I’m capable of. I know what I can do. We need to go and do it again next weekend and continue from there. We’ve just got to keep our head down and keep pushing.”
