'I f***ed it up' - Norris makes no excuses for costly Qatar penalty

A distraught and ferociously self-critical Lando Norris felt his race-destroying yellow flag penalty was more than justified, as his drop from the podium to the minor points contributed to McLaren not sealing the Formula 1 constructors’ championship at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Norris was running a close second to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull when he failed to lift for waved yellow flags prompted by a wing mirror from Alex Albon’s Williams becoming detached on the pits straight.

He was eventually given a 10-second stop/go penalty that dropped him from second to 15th and last, before recovering to 10th.

Norris had no idea at the time that he had committed the offence, but had no qualms about the penalty and simply lambasted himself for making what he felt was an inexcusable error.

“I’ve let the team down. The team gave me a great car today, easily the quickest out there, and I f***ed it up,” said Norris.

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“I’m not an idiot, if there’s a yellow flag I know I need to slow down. That’s rule number one. You learn it in go-karts.

“For some reason I didn’t do that today because I’ve not seen it or I’ve missed it or something.

“I have to take it on the chin. If they think I’ve done something wrong, I must’ve done something wrong. I can only apologise for the rest of the year to the team.”

Norris had no complaints when told Verstappen had flagged up his offence over team radio and suggested it deserved a penalty.

“Good on him. It’s what everyone does, I would do the same,” he replied when told of Verstappen’s radio message.

And he didn’t object to the scale of the penalty either.

“It’s fair. If I did what they said I did wrong then good on them for giving me the correct penalty,” said Norris.

But McLaren team principal Andrea Stella took the opposite view and felt the rules had been enforced far too rigidly.

“The sector appeared yellow as soon as Lando entered the sector,” Stella told Sky.

“But the requirement is very clear: you need to lift and it’s the responsibility of the driver to recognise that you are in a yellow sector and you need to back off.

“At the same time, I think it’s quite peculiar that the yellow flag was deployed and then was removed, but actually the situation in that sector was the same: there was debris on track. Sometimes it deserved a yellow flag and then a few seconds after, it didn’t. Unfortunate, I would say.

“Then in the application of the penalty, I think we have lost any sense of proportion and any sense of specificity.

“Can we look specifically at the infringement, at the level of danger associated with the situation, and the fact the yellow flag was removed?

“And then judge using this kind of elements, proportion and specificity, rather than taking a look at any kind of rulebook, probably full of dust on top of it, and then apply it without any sense of critical approach?

“From this point of view I think there’s an opportunity to do better from the FIA.”

The stewards’ document explaining the penalty said the officials felt the matter was straightforward and inarguable.

"The telemetry and onboard audio clearly showed that the driver of car 4 did not make any reduction in speed in the yellow sector,” their report read.

“The double-waved yellow flags and yellow lights were clearly visible to him.

"Compliance with the yellow flag rules is paramount for the safety of all parties and this requirement is clearly noted in the first item of the race director's event notes at every event."

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Norris secured fastest lap on the way back to 10th so salvaged two points.

“I didn’t give up until the end and we were quick. I did my best I could,” he said.

“Disappointed to only get two points with the quickest car out there today.”

That plus team-mate Oscar Piastri’s third place means McLaren holds a 21-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship heading to Abu Dhabi.

But that was no consolation to Norris, who feels the McLaren will be weaker around Yas Marina.

“I don’t think it will be as good as today,” he said of his car’s likely Abu Dhabi pace.

“This was a massive opportunity lost and I’ve disappointed the whole team. The only thing I care about is my team.”