Norris didn't overtake Sainz: 'Probably wouldn't have been on podium'

Lando Norris grabbed his third podium of 2023 in Singapore. The Briton finished second again, but this could have ended differently. Norris said after the race that he was more concerned with protecting his second place than attacking Carlos Sainz for first.

"It was protecting P2. George [Russell] couldn't overtake me, he struggled to overtake me when he had a 5/6 tenths-a-lap advantage. So the chance of me getting ahead of Carlos [Sainz] with maybe one-tenth advantage is, there was no chance," the Briton began.

Norris is still looking for his first win, and this weekend he was very close. Yet he didn't go for it in the final stages of the race: "I think Carlos played it smart, there was no need for me to try and attack him. The more I attacked him, probably the more vulnerable I would have been from both the guys behind and I wouldn't be sitting here, we wouldn't be on the podium if I played it differently."

Despite that, the Briton noticed towards the end of the race that he did get faster than the Ferrari driver: "Honestly, I think initially I started to catch him myself. I think our pace was a bit better towards the end of stints. The Ferrari was probably better in the initial part of the stints."