Norris still happy with gravel traps: "It's more challenging"

Lando Norris was the first driver to find out on Friday how ruthless the circuit of Mugello can be if you make a mistake. In retrospect he was disappointed to have missed the longrun, but he thinks this is part of Formula 1.

"It felt a lot worse in the car than what it looked like but I think there’s some damage to the steering and maybe the rear," said Norris afterwards to Sky Sports. "Nothing major luckily. I don’t think I damaged much to the floor or the wings, apart from the front wing. It’s not terrible, it could have been worse so I’m lucky."

Because Mugello is mainly used at the highest level by MotoGP, the circuit has a rather classic appearance for Formula 1 terms. Everywhere there are gravel pits next to the track, so every mistake is punished. Although Norris is now the victim of this, he thinks that this is the way it should be.

As much as I hate the fact there was gravel because of crashing and damaging the car, it’s better like this being trickier. It’s more challenging and I think that’s what it should be like. Not ideal but it’s what happens sometimes,” he added.