Jamie Chadwick ‘likes’ change she saw in Lando Norris in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix paddock after qualifying crash

McLaren’s Lando Norris is firmly at risk of losing the lead of the F1 drivers’ standings after crashing in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to claim P10 on the grid.

The 25-year-old has topped the standings since the first race of the 2025 F1 season. But his nearest rivals locked out the top three positions during qualifying on Saturday with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen scoring pole to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and also Mercedes’ George Russell.

Verstappen beat Piastri to pole for the Saudi Arabian GP by just 0.010s in a last-gasp contest between the front three on the grid. It also hammered home the issues of Norris crashing in Q3 without the McLaren driver posting a lap time, having lost his car on the Turn 4 exit kerb.

Norris attacked T4 more than the Briton would have ideally wanted and understeered out to the kerb, where his MCL39 snapped with the Bristol-born ace trying to carry his extra speed. The resulting snap of oversteer spat Norris into the outside wall at Turn 5 and ended his day.

Jamie Chadwick likes Lando Norris ‘wasn’t beating himself up’ over Saudi Arabian GP qualifying crash

Norris got the lead of the F1 drivers’ championship for the first time in his career by winning the Australian Grand Prix, which also dethroned Verstappen after 1,029 days. But Piastri has arguably been the better McLaren driver since with his poles and wins in China and Bahrain.

READ MORE: Every error that cost Lando Norris points in his failed 2024 F1 title challenge

Sakhir was a particularly hard weekend for the Briton, too, as Norris called himself ‘clueless’ after qualifying P6 for the Bahrain GP. Yet the 25-year-old had a much more positive outlook in Jeddah, and Jamie Chadwick liked that Norris did not beat himself up again after crashing.

Chadwick said on Sky Sports F1 (19/04, 20:08): “I do like the fact that Lando wasn’t beating himself up as we’ve seen before. He had a bit of a smile hiding somewhere in that face of his. But I don’t think he should even put a number on it.

“I think he should go in with a fresh mindset, know that anything can happen tomorrow [in the race], know that he’s got a fast car, work with the engineers, see what Oscar was doing in qualifying, try and extract the performance and give it everything.”

How many F1 race wins do Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP?

Some F1 fans mocked Norris for his Saudi Arabian GP qualifying crash, with a few calling the McLaren driver a ‘bottler’ and others suggesting he is feeling the pressure. Norris heads into the Saudi Arabian GP only three, eight and 14 points clear of Piastri, Verstappen and Russell.

Even McLaren deleted a tweet after Norris’ qualifying crash having initially posted, ‘Lando is OK. Not what any team wants to see’. The team quickly realised the potential for the post to be misinterpreted and shared a second version noting that Norris ‘had an incident on track’.

Crashing in qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP will be hard for Norris to swallow, especially with the pressure Piastri, Verstappen and even Russell are putting him under in the drivers’ championship. Russell is the one driver to finish every race so far this season in the top five.

Verstappen also has a big advantage with the pole-sitter winning all but one of the previous four editions of the Saudi Arabian GP, and he was the only driver to break that streak when he won from P4 back in 2022. So, he might expect to seal the 27-year-old’s 65th career win.

Only Lewis Hamilton with his all-time record 105 Grand Prix wins has secured more victories than Verstappen with 64 among the current grid. Piastri and Russell will hope to add to their four and three Grand Prix wins each, putting them 57th and 62nd all-time, in Saudi Arabia.