Lando Norris is set to start the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix from 10th place after crashing in Q3. Norris looked like the favourite for pole, but he faltered at the key moment.
The McLaren driver was quickest in FP2 and FP3 and was the only driver to reach the 1:27.4 bracket in Q2. He was poised to bounce back from a frustrating Bahrain weekend, where he qualified sixth and finished third.
However, on his first Q3 push lap, Norris appeared to carry too much speed into turn four, which in turn meant he used too much kerb on the exit. That speared him into the barriers, ripping his front-left tyre off.
Norris entered the weekend with a three-point lead over McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri. It’s now highly likely he’ll surrender that advantage at the end of the triple-header.
McLaren delete poorly-worded Lando Norris post after he said he was ‘okay’ on the radio
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix track is the second-fastest on the calendar behind Monza. But unlike in Italy, the walls are extremely close on this street circuit.
That’s why Esteban Ocon admitted he’d be glad to finish the race ‘in one piece’. Even though this wasn’t through one of the quickest sections of the circuit, the first priority was ensuring Norris was okay.
The Briton confirmed as much over the radio, which McLaren tried to relay to their fans on social media.
“Lando is okay,” they wrote, “not what any team wants to see.”
Clearly, they were referring to the accident, but one can see how that post would be misconstrued. Realising their misjudgement, McLaren deleted and revised the post.
“Red Flag,” the second draft read. “Lando has had an incident on track. He is okay and out of the car.”
What Lando Norris’ rivals will privately be thinking after Saudi Arabian Grand Prix crash
Coming into this weekend’s race, Norris’ mentality was a major talking point. He was fiercely self-critical after his weak qualifying in Bahrain, an approach that divided opinion the paddock.
David Coulthard suggested that Norris was feeding his rivals by talking himself down. Piastri looks like the main challenger for the title, but Max Verstappen’s superb pole lap on Saturday was a reminder that he can’t be discounted.
Privately, Piastri and Verstappen will surely see Norris as vulnerable after this latest incident. He still needs to prove that he can cope under the highest pressure.
This is a question that every F1 champion has faced at some point in their careers. Norris may have thrown away a win here, and if he’s not careful, it won’t be long before analysts start totting up the lost points as they did in 2024.
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