Lando Norris shared that he was “not proud” of having to depend on McLaren team orders to win the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint race, admitting that his teammate Oscar Piastri “deserved” to take the win.
Norris celebrated his first sprint race victory in Formula 1 at Interlagos on Saturday, which cut Max Verstappen’s championship lead down to 45 points ahead of Sunday’s main event in Sao Paulo.
His win came after Piastri, who started from pole position, followed McLaren’s request to switch places in the closing laps to help Norris score more points in his battle against Verstappen.
After the race, Norris thanked Piastri and the team for their support and acknowledged that he didn’t feel he earned the victory at Interlagos.
When asked if he felt pressure from Verstappen and Charles Leclerc behind him while waiting for Piastri to make the switch, Norris told Sky F1: “Of course, I was under pressure. They were within the DRS almost every lap.
“Max was a lot quicker at the end of the race, so my confidence was not high towards the middle and end part of the race. But that’s life.
“Oscar drove well and he deserved to win today. I’m not proud of winning a sprint race – or any race – like this, so I thank Oscar and the team.
“But that’s our objective. It’s what we have to work towards as a team. We get the points in the Constructors’ [Championship] and I get the points in the Drivers’ and that’s our target.
“You can never plan exactly what lap or what time to swap positions. It’s impossible to plan these things perfectly.
“We discuss different times and how we can manage things, and the main goal is not to put anyone at risk, myself or Oscar.
“We want to help each other out, so we executed it in the end just how we wanted to.”
When asked if he was surprised by Verstappen’s pace, who was putting pressure on the McLaren drivers after passing Leclerc for third place, Norris replied: “I think so.
“I felt very quick the whole race, so I thought once I was released, I could easily go.
“But at the same time, in the last couple of laps, I knew Oscar would need the DRS, so I had to back off a little bit to help him out. “So he helped me, and I helped him.”
“I know I was the one who gained from it in the end, but this is the position we’re in for a championship now.”
After securing the top two spots on the grid for the sprint race, McLaren is seen as the strong favorite to do the same in Saturday’s main qualifying session.
However, Norris is cautious about the unpredictable weather in Sao Paulo that could work against the team. He said, “We’re very quick in the dry right now, so I’d prefer it to stay dry.”
