Lando Norris: We were just unlucky

Lando Norris started from pole position in Sao Paulo, but had bad luck during the race, partly because he decided to make a pit stop together with McLaren when his rivals, including Max Verstappen, remained on track. When the race was subsequently stopped by red flags, everyone returned to the pit lane and changed tires without losing position.

Oscar Piastri finished 8th after being penalized for an on-track collision with Liam Lawson’s car.

Lando Norris (6th): “Starting on a water-filled track is always a lottery. Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re not. It was better to start on the left than on the right, so it all started when I lost my position. And then the race was stopped by red flags, and everyone else pitted without losing positions.

In general we were very unlucky, that’s all. George Russell probably felt like he almost won the race, and he probably deserved to win today more than anyone else, but sometimes you’re just unlucky and even the rules turn against you.

Overall a difficult day, and I made a few mistakes, which put George ahead of me first, then Charles Leclerc, that’s all. But I did everything in my power. I did a lot of good races and there came a day when something went wrong.

If we talk about the episode with the canceled start, I still have to analyze everything with the team. When it comes to our pit stop, I trust what the team tells me and they trust me. But we were just unlucky.

We acted correctly, and I don’t care about arguments that we should have acted differently – the opponents were just lucky, and there is nothing more to say. They’re lucky because we have a rule that no one likes. Our rivals are probably now willing to agree to this rule, but in the past no driver agreed.

We could have been in a good position thanks to this rule if we had stayed on track, but it’s stupid to think about that now. It just wasn’t a good day. Of course, the result upset me, everything could have turned out better, but we will continue to attack. Max had a good race and was lucky, but that’s life.”

Oscar Piastri (8th): “The Liam Lawson incident was my fault, but today is just a bad day. I didn’t have enough speed to overtake, so there is something to be angry about.

The speed of the car on the rainy track didn’t really impress me. We had a lot of problems, including in qualifying, but it is unlikely that this was due to my mistake. I think we had a problem with the car. we have to arrange everything for the next race. Overall the day brought us nothing but frustration.”