McLaren driver Lando Norris can start tomorrow’s sprint race from pole position and the young Briton is very happy with that, especially because the race management had initially taken away his fastest lap, which was good for pole position.
The race management had initially canceled the lap in which he had gone off the track during the last corner, but also the lap after that. An apparently logical decision under dry conditions, because this measure was also mentioned in the so-called ‘event notes’. This was taken to prevent a driver who went off the track in the last corner from also having a higher speed on the straight along the start-finish line and thus gaining an advantage on the following lap.
However, in the rain the conditions are completely different and Lando Norris certainly had no advantage on the subsequent lap by going off the track in the last corner. Ultimately, the race management decided to give Norris his fastest lap back and thus also give the pole position to Lando Norris.
“If he had gone off track, it would have had consequences for his next lap,” McLaren team boss Andrea Stella told ‘Sky Sports F1’. “Lando effectively lost about three tenths because he had gone off the track in the previous corner.”
“The next lap is his lap for pole position and that lap was completely clean, so no problem at all in that regard. He was given his lap time back by the FIA, because if you go off the track while coming out of that corner, you start at a much lower speed on that part of the circuit.”
If Lando Norris had not gotten his lap time back, Norris would only have started the sprint race in ninth place, a big difference.”
“My last lap was all or nothing,” Norris said firmly afterwards in the park. “I had aborted both of the first two laps.”
“It was getting wetter so the conditions during the last two laps were worse than during my second lap. I was a bit nervous because I had made some mistakes and I had some hydroplaning problems.”
“But it was fun! Your heart rate goes up. To ultimately be at the top, that’s what I wanted.”
“The pole position comes as a bit of a surprise but I am very happy that the team has done such a good job, the car feels good, just like me. That pays off.”
“Yeah baby. Simply beautiful.” #ChineseGP #F1Sprint pic.twitter.com/Iu84OZlpyL
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 19, 2024