Norris regrets “bad decision” at start of Zandvoort race: Lando Norris said that the decision to stay on track and not make a pit stop at the start of Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix as the rain began to fall on the circuit was “a bad decision”.
Second on the grid at the start of the Dutch Grand Prix, Lando Norris managed to hold onto his position at the first corner as the lights went out, just as the first raindrops began to fall on the circuit and his McLaren was fitted with Slicks tyres for dry track conditions.
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Did not pit: “a bad decision”
However, the British driver stayed on track on the second lap despite a completely wet final sector, and saw Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin overtake him at the start of the second lap on an increasingly slippery track, at a time when many drivers opted to return to the pits to put on Intermediates.
Faced with increasingly tricky track conditions, Norris had no choice but to take his turn in the pits on the third lap to change to intermediates, but the British driver then lost a number of positions and exited the pit lane in nineteenth place.
Lando Norris said the decision to stay on track and not pit at the start of Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix as rain began to fall on the circuit was “a bad decision”.
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Second on the grid at the start of the Dutch Grand Prix, Lando Norris managed to hold on to his position at the first corner as the lights went out, just as the first raindrops began to fall on the circuit and his McLaren was fitted with Slicks dry tyres.
However, the British driver stayed on track on the second lap despite a completely wet final sector, and saw Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin overtake him at the start of the second lap on an increasingly slippery track, at a time when many drivers opted to return to the pits to put on Intermediates.
Faced with the increasingly tricky track conditions, Norris had no choice but to take his turn in the pits on the third lap to change to intermediates, but the British driver then lost a number of positions and exited the pit lane in nineteenth place.
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Decision cost us places
Finishing seventh in the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday, Lando Norris admits that the decision to stay on track at the start of the race was not the right one: “We made a bad decision at the start of the race,” said Norris after the race.
“It happens, but we’ll have to do a better job [in the future] than we did today. I can’t say it was all negative, because there are some good things to remember of course. We scored a few points on the clock.”
“For the most part, the race was good, my second pit stop was good, so there are some good things. But yes, the first decision was not good and that cost us a lot of places.”
After the Dutch Grand Prix, where Lando Norris finished seventh and Oscar Piastri ninth, the McLaren team maintains its fifth place in the Constructors’ World Championship with a 38-point lead over Alpine.
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First lap. Fernando Alonso. Magic
P5->P3 pic.twitter.com/BODrYRIC3D
— Aston Martin F1 updates (@startonpole) August 27, 2023
