Safety standards in F1 have improved over the past few decades. Still, it remains one of the most dangerous sports out there. A slight mistake by anyone on the track can lead to disaster, so drivers must always stay alert. They need cat-like reflexes to sense danger and avoid incidents when possible, or at the very least, do their best to minimize the damage.
Lando Norris, however, made no such effort last weekend in Saudi Arabia.
Normally, when F1 drivers lose control of the car, they take their hands off the steering wheel immediately to avoid wrist injuries that can result from the impact of a collision. Norris, however, kept his hands on the wheel the entire time as he crashed into the barriers during Q3 at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Saturday.
The Bristol-born driver has now been called out for his carelessness and reminded of what happened to his former teammate, Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian suffered a wrist injury after crashing into the barriers at Zandvoort during free practice in 2023 while driving for AlphaTauri (now Racing Bulls). The impact left him with a broken metacarpal in his left hand.
Full footage of Lando Norris’ crash in Q3!#F1 #Formula1 #SaudiArabianGP #LandoNorrispic.twitter.com/yHVkb8dNpO
— Extreme Cars (@extremecars__) April 19, 2025
“Lando not taking his hands off the wheel as he hit the wall in his qualifying shunt is just the indications of the pressure he is under, and he is not really thinking clearly as he should at this stage,” former F1 manager Peter Windsor explained via his YouTube channel.
“Things like that are pretty basic; you’re going to hit a wall hard, you’re going quickly, you take your hands off the wheel because the whiplash of the wheel as you hit any sort of barrier can potentially just snap your wrist“.
Windsor has seen at least 10 drivers who have broken their wrists after failing to take their hands off the wheel before hitting a barrier. He feels that in recent times, many have gotten lax because of the safety measures being enhanced. “It’s taken for granted now,” he mentioned.
Recalling how Ricciardo broke his wrist two years ago at Zandvoort, Windsor said Norris was fortunate to get off scot-free. He called for more vigilance, warning that failure to do so could lead to serious consequences.
Hoping Ricciardo is okay after that, going back to his onboards, he’s unable to use that hand while getting out of the car, and while still in it. (see below (This looks very similar to the hand and wrist injuries we’ve seen over in FE#fp2 #dutchGP pic.twitter.com/yVdEpGnDPO
— Molly Marissa (@mollym_o) August 25, 2023
Windsor also feels that Norris has been under a lot of pressure in recent weeks, something the McLaren driver himself admitted to in a recent interview.
“I’m probably just putting too much pressure on myself at the minute. Not because of any reason, and not the championship. Just because I put too much pressure on myself because I want to do well,” he said in the F1 Nation Podcast.
It’s possible that the pressure contributed to Norris’ mistake during qualifying. Given that he currently has the fastest car on the grid, it’s no surprise that he is under fire for not delivering the results expected of him.
His teammate, Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, is thriving. Apart from his error in the season opener in Australia, where he finished P9, Piastri has had an exceptional start to the 2025 campaign. The Melbourne-born driver has secured three wins and a third-place finish, results that have helped him build a 10-point lead over Norris in the championship standings.
With such a clear contrast in form between the two drivers, that gap is likely to grow unless Norris finds a way to manage the pressure more effectively.
