Lando Norris was close to retiring from the Chinese Grand Prix had it not been for him reporting a problem with his brake pedal over team radio to his McLaren engineer.
The McLaren driver was cruising along in second place having made a decent start and overtook George Russell in the first couple of corners.
Russell would make use of the powerful undercut to get past the McLaren driver after his pit stop, but Norris pulled off a move he compared to Michael Schumacher on the Mercedes to retake the position and establish a McLaren one-two.
Norris was conserving his pace after McLaren switched to the ‘Plan C’ one-stop strategy midway through the race, having seen Lance Stroll extend his first stint on the hard tyres.
Engineer Will Joseph told Norris that there would be an opportunity at the end of the race for him to take time out of teammate Oscar Piastri for the win, but there was another issue that would become so critical that it nearly caused Norris to retire.
How McLaren guided Lando Norris through Chinese Grand Prix brake problems
Norris first reported that he had an issue with the brakes on Lap 47 of the race, when he noticed that his pedal was going ‘longer’ than usual.
When drivers press the brake pedal they want it to be as firm as possible with no give, effectively like as if they are pressing their foot against a wall, to know they have pressure.
If the pedal starts to go ‘long’ that means they have a potential problem that could lead to failure, one of the worst nightmares for a driver, especially at a highspeed track.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 47 | Norris: “My brake pedal is going a bit long.” | |
| 48 | Norris: “Brake pedal is going a bit long. Yeah the brake pedal has been going a lot longer.” | |
| Joseph: “So if its been going long the whole time, we see it has depth.” | ||
| Norris: “It’s not a lot longer, just slightly longer.” | ||
| Joseph: “I know. I know mate.” | ||
| Joseph: “So I know this is boring but it’s not the brake power that’s changing it’s just the pedal that’s going longer. Limited peak brake pressure into Turn 14 will help, we’re not under pressure, gap to Russell 6.3.” |
Norris was in discussion with his engineer over what was happening with his car, having felt the pedal move when he was pressing it in the braking zones.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 49 | Joseph: “Lando, the brake pedal will continue to get long.” | |
| Norris: “How big’s the issue?” | ||
| Joseph: “It’ll get like half a mil longer per lap. The front circuit will maintain pressure, the rear will lose, but you’ll still get brake power. You just have to be really cautious on the brakes. No risk. Gap to Russell 6.” | ||
| Norris: “But I’m a lot quicker….” |
Lando Norris instructed to back off to save brakes in Chinese Grand Prix
Norris started to gain on teammate Piastri at this stage of the race with six laps left to run, having been told that he would have seven laps of pace left in the tyres earlier to attempt a pass.
Joseph informed Norris how ‘critical’ the issue had become and advised him to focus on managing the problem, instead of improving his lap times and getting close to Piastri.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 50 | Joseph: “So Lando this is one of the things we discussed, I’d rather finish second than not at all. No hard braking. Gap to Russell 7 seconds.” | |
| 52 | Joseph: “Lando, five laps to go. The brake pedal is getting worse, you need to limit your brake pressure.” | |
| 54 | Joseph: “Three laps to go, the brake pedal is getting longer. At some point it will bottom out. Gap to Russell 9, so limit that brake pressure.” | |
| Norris: “How many laps to go?” | ||
| Joseph: “Including this one, three.” | ||
| Joseph: “Lando the brake situation is getting critical, so manage peak brake pressures at Turn 6 and Turn 14.” |
At this stage Norris reported that his pedal had gone ‘flat’ indicating that the mechanical system had failed, with his team advising him to lift and coast into two key braking zones to alleviate any stress on the system.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 55 | Norris: “Yeah I think the pedal is going flat.” | |
| Joseph: “Two laps to go, suggest blue B2, gap to Russell is 8.” | ||
| Joseph: “So Lando the side effect to this brake pedal is that it’s like forward brake balance.” |
GPS data shows that Norris lifted 180m before each corner on the final lap, which enabled Russell to significantly close the gap.
| Lap | Driver | Engineer |
| 56 | Joseph: “This is the last lap, gap to Russell is 4.0” | |
| Joseph: “3.7 to Russell.” | ||
| Joseph: “Russell 2.6” | ||
| CF | Joseph: “Well done mate, sorry about that with the brake pedal.” | |
| Norris: “Well done boys.” |
Norris also braked sooner into the corner to avoid any temperature spikes. The gap to Russell at the chequered flag would end up being 1.3s, having been nine seconds just three laps prior.
