Engine issue robs 'Driver of the Day' Norris of superb P5
The award of 'Driver of the Day' attributed by F1 fans was but a small consolation for McLaren's Lando Norris who suffered a heartbreaking retirement from P5 on the final lap of the Belgian GP.
Norris had dodged the opening lap incident at La Source between Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen to hold snatch fifth and follow the train of front-running cars ahead.
An uneventful 43 laps followed thereafter, but the 19-year-old's impeccable run suddenly came to a halt as Norris concluded his penultimate lap, his McLaren's Renault engine brutally calling it a day.
"I was on for my best result," lamented Norris, speaking to Sky F1. "As a team, it was our joint best result from what Carlos [Sainz] has achieved.
"Things were looking so good and looking up I guess, because for a while I haven't had a great result for myself.
"Whatever was giving me power, stopped giving me power," joked the McLaren rookie.
While Norris admitted that he had luckily been spared any consequences from the opening lap contact between Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen at La Source, he felt the inside line at Turn 1 was the best place to be based on footage from past races which he had reviewed.
©McLaren
"From looking at onboards from previous years, the inside line looked like a slightly better approach then trying to go around the outside. I felt like I did my homework, it paid off and led to a very good race."
Norris said he spent the better part of Sunday on his own, with not a car in sight, either ahead or behind.
"I was watching the big screens; I was watching TV while driving, seeing what was going on," he laughed.
More seriously, Norris admitted he was venturing a bit into the unknown regarding his race pace following a subdued series of free practice sessions. But improvements for qualifying transferred over to the race.
"Our pace was very good, we just need to focus on why we were not so good on Friday, in P1 and P2, and how the changes we made transformed the car in a really big way.
"We need to sit down, do our homework and try to come back at Monza, which is going to another tough track for us, stronger."
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