Lando Norris: I’m not here to let everyone through

None of the McLaren drivers made it to the finish of the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but for different reasons. Daniel Ricciardo collided with Kevin Magnussen shortly after the start, his car was damaged, flew off the track and it all ended up in hard contact with the guardrail. Lando Norris’ MCL36 failed after 52 laps of the race, with the Briton finishing 12th. Moreover, he is not feeling well this weekend.

Lando Norris (didn’t finish): “I feel normal because my race ended early and I had time to rest. After 40-45 laps of the race it got difficult, but now I’m better. I think I’ll be back to normal next weekend.

Talking about the collision with Charles Leclerc, he tried to avoid me on the outside track and there was little contact between the cars. Of course I didn’t need it at all, I wanted to have a normal race, but I’m not here to let everyone pass. I tried my best to stick to my trajectory, except I could leave him another two inches, but he could have left me the same amount!

It was the first lap and he was trying to push me out of the way into the corner – he probably didn’t expect to be able to stay on my trajectory the entire corner. But I tried my best and I think it was more of a racing incident. Unfortunately it didn’t end well.

It’s not a big problem though, that’s life, but today we were just too slow, the car didn’t work in the best way, I couldn’t even finish and that’s why I’m upset.

The car in that collision had apparently suffered some damage, but it was only after the incident that I felt a slight break in the steering, but this did not lead to a noticeable reduction in speed. As for the reason for the descent, I can’t say for sure: whether it was a problem with the engine, or with an electrician … “

Daniel Riccardo (not ready): “I don’t even know what happened there because I haven’t watched the video of the accident yet. It seemed to me that we normally passed Turn 8, and I slowed down enough to stay on my trajectory. I didn’t expect there to be contact between the machines at all when we were somewhere in the top area.

I thought everything was fine, but the next moment I bumped into Kevin’s Haas from behind. I slid to the right to avoid a second contact, but what happened happened. Overall, it was one of those stories that happens on the first lap of the race, although I thought everything would be fine.

I don’t know, maybe Kevin was trying to straighten the trajectory and aimed at the exit of the corner where it was too busy, it’s pretty obvious. Whoever was at fault, we were both out of the fight, and it’s equally embarrassing for both of us.”