Norris's race engineer had to calm him down because of Verstappen

Lando Norris had Max Verstappen in his rearview mirrors the entire time during the Australian Grand Prix. Afterwards, Norris commented that he had never been in a similar situation before and so had quite a bit of trouble keeping Verstappen behind him. Here's what he said.

Norris explained, "At the very beginning, when it was wettest, Max was just as quick as us. As it dried, we got a lot quicker, and Red Bull started to struggle. So, I knew Max would be quicker in those last few laps, and I knew he would risk more because there were only a few laps left." He added, " I did make a mistake at Turn 6 – I just put a wheel on the gravel and lost all my momentum and drive. Max got within DRS, and DRS really helped him stay there"

After the race Norris said, "It's tough because it's not just the pressure of him being there, it’s the pressure of knowing that if I put a wheel too close to a white line on entry, I’m off. If I clip the kerb wrong in Turn 6, I’m off. If I dip a wheel in the gravel, I get a bad run and he's past. There are so many little things that can go wrong. Just trying to concentrate on not locking up, not rear locking, not hitting the kerbs wrong, but still trying to go quicker than before because the guy behind is doing the same."

This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.

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