Month: November 2019

This weekend is proving to be a case of coming down to earth with a bump for McLaren drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris.

Norris was the star of qualifying in Melbourne when he progressed all the way through to Q3. And the pair combined to get both MCL34s through to the final round last time out in Bahrain.

But this week proved to be a much tougher challenge, with neither driver escaping elimination at the end of Q2.

• Bottas beats Hamilton to Race 1000 pole in Shanghai

As a result, Sainz will start from 14th on the grid with Norris one row behind him in 15th place – very much not where either man had been hoping to end up.

“Quite disappointed today with P14,” admitted Sainz. “But already in FP3 we saw that it was going to be very difficult to get into Q3.”

He added that the team wasn’t surprised to be experiencing difficulties this weekend in China.

“We knew coming into Shanghai that it was going to be a tough circuit for us and it was going to expose more our limitations,” he said.

“However, I think we managed to put together a decent qualifying. Maybe I missed a tenth or tenth and a half on my last run, but overall I think I extracted pretty much all our potential from the car.

“We’ll analyse and work on our weaknesses, and we’ll prepare ourselves for the race as best as possible.”

Norris was also less than thrilled with his worst qualifying position of his fledgling F1 career, but determined not to be too downhearted about how the day had gone.

“Today was obviously not as good as the past two weekends but, on the whole, I don’t think it was horrendous,” he said. “There’s still some work to do with the car.

Overall, there wasn’t a lot more to gain today: Carlos was quicker than me, but he wasn’t ahead of anyone else. I think he did a really good job of getting the most out of the car.

“This track just doesn’t suit our car, compared to the previous two,” he added, echoing Sainz’ own comments. “It’s just an area we have to work on.”

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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It’s been a strong start to his rookie season for McLaren’s Lando Norris, and the teenager is aiming to ensure that he continues building on that momentum into Shanghai this weekend.

Norris was the star of qualifying at Melbourne, and while the race itself didn’t do so well he soon redeemed himself by taking his first championship points in Bahrain.

“Last weekend went well for us in Bahrain, so I’m going to try and carry that momentum forward to the Chinese Grand Prix,” Norris commented this week.

• Early success gives Norris ‘breathing space’ says Brown

Having worked his way through the FIA European Formula 3 series and then the Formula 2 feeder series, Norris is new to F1’s ‘flyaway’ venues this year – meaning he faces a steep learning curve in Shanghai.

“Another race and another new circuit,” he acknowledged. “I’m looking forward to trying out the Shanghai track for the first time. I’ve done plenty of practice in the sim so now I’m excited to drive it for real.”

He’ll be hoping to match his sixth place finish last time out. However, he admits he’s been surprised at just how competitive McLaren has been in the early stages of the 2019 season compared to their main midfield rivals.

“Between qualifying and the race it’s definitely one of the strongest [performances] for quite some time,” Norris said of McLaren’s showing in Bahrain.

“Our race pace seems better than we anticipated,” he added. “[But] there’s still a lot of work to do to be consistently here and beating the midfield guys.”

Click Here: Geelong Cats Guernsey

It’s not been such a good start for his team mate Carlos Sainz, who unlike Norris has failed to finish either of the season’s first two races.

“Carlos has a lot more potential than he’s shown,” Norris insisted. “He showed it in [Bahrain] qualifying so he deserves to get points and be up where I was.”

“He didn’t deserve [to retire]. I’m sure he’s gutted to not get [to the finish line in] two races, the first two where you need the confidence,” he added. “He’ll bounce back, I know he will.”

As for Norris, he’s looking firmly forward – but also with an eye to history. While China will be only his third F1 race outing, it’s a much larger landmark event in the the history of the championship.

Taking part in a major milestone for the sport is something from which the youngster is taking a lot of pride.

“I have a one-off helmet design for China to celebrate the 1,000th Grand Prix race,” Norris revealed. “It’s really exciting to be taking part in this special occasion on only my third F1 entry.”

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Formula 1 got down to business in sunny and warm Barcelona on Friday, and here is our gallery of the day’s action at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.

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