Norris dropped back: "It would be different if I was fighting for points"

Lando Norris, to his rote annoyance, had to settle for 17th place on Sunday. After the race in Jeddah, he was "very frustrated" to say the least, after the disappointing result of both McLarens. Indeed, his teammate, Oscar Piastri, finished in not much better fifteenth place. In interviews with Sky and Viaplay after the race, he expressed his frustrations.

Norris started the second race of this season with very bad luck. Damaging his front wing forced him to make a pit stop very early in the race. "I got all the debris from, I think, Oscar and Ocon's incident, which ruined my race, ruined my car, damaged my front wings, so I had to do a pit stop change."

Motivation sank

Motivation dwindled for Norris as the race progressed: "It would be different if I was fighting for points, but 16th and 17th, it doesn't really matter." The British driver also faced a team order. For example, he had to let his Australian teammate Oscar Piastri pass him so that he could open the attack on Logan Sargeant, another F1 rookie.

Piastri himself still looks back on his difficult start, in which there was even a slight touch. It resulted in an early pit stop for the Australian: "And unfortunately lost the front wing. Just a shame."

Tough start McLaren

With the first two races, the British team did not yet manage to leave a good impression on the grid. Indeed, they scored a total of zero points, putting them at the bottom shared with AlphaTauri, who also had a very poor start.

Remarkably though, McLaren did not do badly at all in the last two seasons. In 2021, they even managed a one-two at the Monza Grand Prix. In 2022, the British team finished fifth, so this season is still hugely disappointing.