Lando Norris Fumes Over ‘Unfair’ Yellow Flag, But Battles Back to Finish Fourth in Baku

Lando Norris remains upset over a "unfair" yellow flag incident that he claims "ruined my weekend". The event was reported by Lewis Larkam in Baku.

Lando Norris expressed his dissatisfaction with an "unjust" yellow flag that caused his unexpected early exit from qualifying at the F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver was eliminated in the first qualifying session after having to slow down during his last fast lap due to yellow flags triggered by an incident with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Norris delivered a remarkable performance, climbing from 15th place on the starting grid to finish in fourth, ahead of his championship competitor Max Verstappen. However, he couldn't help but feel frustrated about the missed opportunity, especially after watching his teammate Oscar Piastri take the victory.

Norris expressed his frustration to the press, including Crash.net, after Sunday's race in Baku, saying, "It was unjust. You don't need to be a genius to understand that. It's not my place to make that decision or comment on it."

"I understand that finishing fourth isn't terrible, but it definitely could have been improved. Oscar demonstrated the potential performance today. It felt unjust because there were no yellow flags throughout the lap, and they brought one out just as I passed by."

"Did I veer off course right before it? Yes. Would I have comfortably made it into the top 15 regardless? Yes. I'm aware that many people believed it would have wrecked my lap, but despite going off track, I only lost a few tenths of a second and would still have made it in without any trouble."

“Everyone is entitled to their opinions and I often find them amusing, but this situation was beyond my control and unfair. It resulted in me losing a significant number of points in the championship today and essentially ruined my weekend. Therefore, it’s quite disheartening.”

After making a late pit stop, Norris managed to close the gap on Verstappen, overtook him, and recorded the fastest lap. This effort has cut the Red Bull driver's championship lead by three points. With seven races left, the difference is now 59 points.

"I couldn't have hoped for much more," Norris acknowledged. "I had a strong start and a solid strategy. It would have been great to overtake Alex sooner, as he made things difficult for me."

"Honestly, I couldn't have hoped for much more. The outcome today exceeded our initial expectations. Securing fourth place is fantastic, especially since we outperformed Max purely based on our speed and strategy. It was a solid performance."

“The vehicle was performing exceptionally well, which only heightened my frustration about the previous day and the unnecessary yellow flag incident.”

Norris acknowledged he anticipated falling behind Verstappen in the championship battle, as McLaren's pre-race forecasts indicated that finishing in eighth place was the most probable outcome for him.

"We would have been content with finishing eighth," he said. "We only anticipated that the top four teams would advance. Naturally, as the driver of the eighth car, we thought they would outperform everyone else."

"I believe I moved up to 10th place fairly swiftly, probably within five or six laps from the start. My initial launch was strong, and I had a solid first lap. This was despite being on hard tires while most others were on medium ones. It really set a positive tone for the rest of the race."

After falling in behind Alex, my options were limited, which allowed Carlos to overtake me. I had a brief tussle with Max, during which he was stuck behind me for a few laps. This caused his tires to overheat, giving me a genuine chance to compete with him.

"Alex pitted, which influenced my race significantly. Once Alex headed to the pits, I believe I had the fastest pace on the track, even while using the hard tires from the start of the race. This allowed me to build a substantial lead and fully exploit the car's capabilities."

"Our goal was to finish eighth, but we understood that a strong start could allow for an even better result if everything went smoothly. However, predicting the exact outcome is challenging."

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