“Lando, we will be boxing this lap” – Lando Norris was directed by McLaren on team radio to stop his second flying lap without revealing the reason during Q2 of the French Grand Prix.
The McLaren star made it to Q3, but not before being asked by his race engineer Will Joseph to stop his flying lap and return to the pits.
Lando, we will be boxing this lap, I am afraid, we will explain later.
Norris has revealed the details of that secretive radio command, calling it a fuel problem. He started off by suggesting he was stopped because he was heading for pole, though, in true Lando style.
“We thought I was going to go P1, and they didn’t want to look that good. Haha, I wish.
“[McLaren] had a couple of issues getting some fuel into the car. [I] didn’t really have any [fuel], and I had to box. Luckily, I did a good enough lap on my first run, which is surprising because the track definitely improved a little bit but luckily, I put a good enough lap, so I didn’t miss out from not getting my second run in.
“Not maybe the cleanest of days from us. A couple of mistakes here and there, so I think P8 was as good as we could do today. The others were a bit too far ahead.
“Looking from today, I think we’re where we should be. The Ferraris look too far ahead, both of them were just far ahead, and Gasly was a good four-tenths ahead or something.
“After today, we’re probably not going to have the strongest [race], but it always changes. The weather’s gonna change, the wind’s gonna change a little bit, and it’s still a long race, so we can still go forward.
“There’s potential for rain, so I’m praying for it. We can have a race like Imola again, you know, so I’ll be praying.”
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