Lando Norris, unlucky driver of the day
While he was heading towards a commendable 5th place finish, Lando Norris saw his McLaren let him down in the last lap of the race, causing him to slip to an insignificant 11th position. The Briton was still voted "Driver of the Day" by the fans.
Big beneficiary of the first corner clash between Kimi Räikkönen and Max Verstappen, Lando Norris managed to find his way by avoiding obstacles to secure 5th place during 43 laps of the race.
Unfortunately, at the start of the last lap, the McLaren of the British driver suddenly lost all its power, forcing the unfortunate driver to get out and forfeit significant points: “I lost power all of a sudden. I was heading for my personal best result and was about to match the team’s. I don’t know where the problem came from. I spoke on the radio as soon as I felt it happening, my engineers analyzed everything but there was nothing to be done,” laments Norris.
Yet, the McLaren driver had delivered a flawless performance during this race, particularly at the start: “I had thoroughly analyzed previous starts here, and the inside line seemed to be the best option. We weren’t really sure what to expect in terms of race pace, but in the end, it was quite good,” the McLaren driver explains, trying to find some positivity in the situation.
Despite everything and as a meager reward, the public designated Lando Norris as Driver of the Day, surely as disappointed as he is by this bad luck that seems persistent for the young Briton who has already experienced 5 retirements since the beginning of the season.
Even more unfortunate than him, Carlos Sainz experienced the same mishap as his teammate but at the end of the formation lap, forcing the Spaniard to retire quickly: « I lost all battery power in the last sector of the formation lap, I tried to continue but it was impossible. Reliability really lets us down, which is a shame because we have the pace. »
