Lando Norris was advised to hold station, he accepted the decision, and the two McLarens finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
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Lando Norris finished just 0.349s behind Daniel Ricciardo in Azerbaijan after team instructions prohibited him from attacking his McLaren teammate for P8. The Briton accepted the result but pondered what may have been on Sunday. Both drivers started on separate strategies, with Norris on the medium tyre and Ricciardo on the hard tyre behind him. In the early stages of the race, Ricciardo had a good speed behind Norris, and right before the latter’s pit stop, he heeded an instruction to wait behind when he had a chance to pass.
Later on, Ricciardo profited by being able to stop under a VSC, allowing him to get ahead of his teammate. Ricciardo was following Fernando Alonso in the latter stages of the race, and Norris was right behind him, asking if he could overtake and assault the Alpine driver. Norris was advised to hold station, and despite his evident displeasure, he accepted the decision, and the two McLarens finished eighth and ninth, respectively.
Lando Norris was instructed to hold the position as it was good for the team on the radio as the Baku race neared its end. Norris, who started on mediums and switched to hards on Lap 20, was closing up on Ricciardo, who started on hards but switched to mediums during the Virtual Safety Car on Lap 33. “I am a team player so I accepted that I couldn’t overtake at the end, and I couldn’t go for the position. Daniel did help me out in the middle, it was one lap that he wasn’t allowed to overtake me on.” Expressed the Briton.
Norris further explained that he was just following the protocol instructed to him by the team. “I went with what we decided as a team and stuck with that. He just had the luck of the VSC pitstop, and he came out on the medium at the end. So I just would have thought he had a bit more pace and could attack Fernando much better. As a team, I think we just did a good job today. We did what we wanted, which was to finish in the points.”
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“Honestly, if I finished eighth or ninth today, it’s not the end of the world, it doesn’t change too much. We just want to finish as high as possible. So I think just racing for a normal position at the end. He wasn’t there, or behind me or whatever, or in a different position, because of what we did earlier in the race.” said Norris.
