Charles Leclerc is not sure of Lando Norris’ aggressiveness in F1 Brazil GP in both the races, as the Brit defends his move.
Despite not feeling too well after food poisoning, McLaren’s Norris was fire on track for both the races in F1 Brazil GP weekend. He went for the moves in both races – albeit aggressive ones – as per the Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Leclerc.
The Spaniard was surprised as well on Saturday, while Leclerc said the same on Sunday. In the latter’s case, the Monegasque spun onto the barrier and needed a pit stop. As the race panned out, he managed claw back into points while Norris retired due to a problem.
But Leclerc was surprised a bit by Norris’ aggressiveness in both the races as he knows the Brit is not the driver to do so. “Obviously the first lap was a shame, I think we were quite lucky, I don’t know how much damage the car had,” he said. “It didn’t feel too bad, maybe steering a little bit to the right but apart from that it was okay and after that the pace was really good all in all.
“Especially considering the first lap before was the best we could do. I was very surprised, yes, that I could keep going. Regarding the move, obviously I know Lando is not this type of guy but for some reason he was very aggressive and also in sprint he was the same with Carlos. I don’t really understand but it’s like this.
“At the end I don’t expect him to let me pass, he didn’t but today was too much and he paid the price with the penalty I guess,” summed up Leclerc. When asked Norris, the Brit reckoned that the Monegasque would have done the same if he was in his place. And that the driver going around the outside is anyhow taking a larger risk.
“He tried going around the outside and it’s racing, I don’t know if anyone says try and go a bit tighter then they should try driving a car,” said Norris. “I think sometimes, I think it’s so difficult for them to put themselves in my shoes say in this instance. Charles took a risk of going around the outside. The first thing you learn in racing is normally not to go around the outside and if you do you need to leave a lot of space.
“We were in the quickest corner on the track, so he was the one in the risky position not me. I did everything I could, it’s not like I tried to run him off or do anything, that’s just stupid I don’t want to ruin my own race. If someone was in my shoes, if Charles was in my shoes he would have done exactly the same. If any good driver was in my shoes they would have done exactly the same.
“Do they just look at the incident from an outboard camera and say he’s caused the crash or do they actually understand, have they done everything to avoid a crash and so on. So there should be more drivers, there needs to be more drivers who can understand what it’s like to be in my position or Charles’ position,” summed up Norris.
When asked if standard guidelines of driving only exists on paper and not on track considering he was handed a penalty, Norris kind of agreed that it impossible to have a set rule against each and every move, since all are different eventually.
“It’s impossible to have a binary thing in racing because nothing is ever the same,” said Norris. “There’s too many times I feel, nothing against the stewards we have, but there’s too many times when I don’t think they understand the position it is to be in in the car, driving the car at the speeds we do around some of the corners that we have to drive around.”
Here’s the collision between Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-sao-paulo-grand-prix-leclerc-hits-the-wall-after-tangle-with-norris-on-safety-car-restart-in-brazil.1749408132652443635.html
Here’s Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen on their tangle