Lando Norris has now missed out on three consecutive opportunities to win a race against Max Verstappen. The McLaren driver finished four seconds behind the Dutchman in Canada and then less than three seconds behind in Spain. Now, the past has come back to haunt him, this time in Spielberg.
At the Austrian GP Sprint, Norris looked to be considerably faster than Verstappen in the opening stages. He even took the lead at one point, but fell down the order later on, finishing third behind teammate Oscar Piastri.
After missing out on the same, Norris spoke about having troubles off the track. “I can’t see how much it’s affecting me. It’s not helping, that’s pretty much the main thing. I wouldn’t say anything that is affecting my performance on track. It is not to that level“.
“I can’t see how much it’s affecting me. it’s not helping that’s pretty the main thing. […] so stop asking me stuff and I’ll be happy. […] small things away from the track, just being tired and and not sleeping good and that kind of stuff.”
— comfort lando (@safeforlando) June 29, 2024
Norris further added with a laugh, “So, stop asking me stuff and I’ll be happy. Nothing that’s affecting me. Just small things away from the track. Just being tired and not sleeping good and that kind of stuff“.
On the other hand, he doesn’t want to use what is happening away from F1 as an excuse for his underperformance on the track. Norris is well aware that McLaren is at par with Red Bull at the moment and to capitalize on it and get race wins, he has to be at his sharpest.
How Max Verstappen beat Lando Norris in Austria
Norris passed Verstappen on lap five, but couldn’t hold on to it for very long. On the very next turn, the Dutchman retook P1, and went on to win the Sprint comfortably whereas Norris lost out on P2 too, to Piastri.
The Melbourne-born driver overtook Norris right after Verstappen’s move on him, as a result of the Bristol-born driver compromising his outside line in his battle with the Red Bull ace. Piastri grabbed this opportunity with both hands, showing that Norris cannot be complacent.
| OSCAR FINISHES P2 FOR THE SPRINT IN AUSTRIA!
a brilliant overtake put oscar into the second position for the sprint, well done osc now onto qualifying for the race! pic.twitter.com/f8e4eTbnnK
— Piastri Updates (@PiastriNews) June 29, 2024
Later that afternoon, during qualifying, Norris performed a lot better. He was 0.4 seconds behind Verstappen in Qualifying, and will start P2 behind the Dutchman on Sunday’s Grand Prix. However, this time he will look to make the most of McLaren’s race pace.
