Winless Lando Norris Gets Dramatic About His F1 Exit: “Gonna Retire After My…”

After a difficult start to the 2023 season, Lando Norris has been nothing short of outstanding. The Briton has now clinched four consecutive podiums and has moved up to sixth place in the Drivers’ Championship. Despite being on a fantastic run, the one thing that has eluded the 23-year-old is a win. Since Norris has now competed in F1 for almost five seasons and still failed to win a race, he recently made a dramatic statement involving Nico Rosberg.

Norris made these comments after he failed to capitalize on some fantastic opportunities recently. The Bristol-born driver made several mistakes during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend that resulted in him not only losing the opportunity of a potential win but he also ended up losing to McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri.

Piastri was outstanding in Qatar as he won the sprint before finishing second in the main race on Sunday. Meanwhile, Norris finished third in both the sprint and the main race.

As a result of the same, the Briton was extremely disappointed with his performance. Following the conclusion of the race weekend, Norris said in his interview (as quoted by RaceFans), “If I want to be honest with myself, I should have fought for two pole positions this weekend and potentially two victories“.

While Norris had a decent race, it was the qualifying during both the sprint and the main race that let him down. The Briton qualified second in the sprint shootout, while he qualified all the way down in tenth during qualifying on the Friday. As a result of his below-par performances, he got a bit dramatic about retiring from F1.

Lando Norris reveals he will retire quicker than Nico Rosberg

While speaking to George Russell in a recent interaction, Lando Norris explained how he has plans of retiring sooner than even Nico Rosberg did. The German made headlines as he announced his F1 retirement immediately after he won the title in the 2016 season. However, Norris has suggested that he has plans of retiring after his first F1 win.

“I am gonna retire next year, to be honest. Rosberg retired after his first championship. I am going to retire after my first win,” said Norris in a conversation with Russell.

Norris has spent five seasons in F1 now and has yet failed to register a victory. Since the win still eludes the 23-year-old, he has grown increasingly frustrated. However, that has not stopped him from giving teammate Oscar Piastri the praises the Australian deserves for his performances this season.

Norris critical of himself but all praises for Piastri

After Oscar Piastri went on to win the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, Lando Norris was all praises for him. The 23-year-old congratulated the Australian for winning a race before him despite only being a rookie.

The Briton stated (as quoted by planetf1.com), “First of all, congrats to Oscar and congrats to Max. His (Piastri’s) first win – earlier than mine – so a big well done to him“.

However, when it came to analyzing his own performance, Norris was as critical as one could be. The 23-year-old explained how he let his team down by putting on an average performance despite having a strong car.