23/07/2024
NEWS STORY
Lando Norris admits that he contemplated delaying the handover of the lead in Hungary until the final corner of the race.
As the debate over Lando Norris' attitude during Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix continues, the Briton has added fuel to the fire by admitting that he considered handing the lead to his teammate in the final corner.
As Will Joseph all but begged the Briton to yield, other than criticising his team's strategy, Norris also questioned the pace of his teammate. However, three laps from the end he slowed on the main straight to allow Oscar Piastri through.
"I was going to wait until the last lap, the last corner," admits the Briton. "But then they said if there was a safety car all of a sudden, and I couldn't let Oscar go through, then it would have made me look like a bit of an idiot.
"Then I was like, 'yeah, it's fair point'. And I let him go."
He had 'inherited' the lead when McLaren controversially opted to pit him ahead of Piastri, even though the Australian was leading the race.
"These things are always going to go through your mind," he said. "You've got to be selfish in this sport at times. You've got to think of yourself, that's priority number one... think of yourself.
"But I'm also a team player," he added. "My mind was going pretty crazy at the time.
"I know what we've done in the past between Oscar and myself, he's helped me plenty of times, and I think this is a different situation. This is not someone helping one another. I was put into a position, and we were undoing that position change.
"But I mean I'm also... and I know a lot of people are going to say, the gap between me and Max is pretty big, 60, 70, 80 points or something, but if Red Bull and Max make mistakes like they did today, and continue to do that, and as a team we continue to improve and have weekends like we've had this weekend, we can turn it around.
"It's still optimistic. It's still a big goal to say we can close 70 points, as a driver I can close 70 points in half a season. When you're thinking of the seven or six points that I give away, it crosses your mind, for sure. So, it was not easy. But I also understood the situation I was in, and I was quite confident always by the last lap I would have done it."
Of course, Norris could have spared himself the damage to his image if he had yielded to Piastri far sooner and then fought the Australian for the position. Or was that a challenge too far for the Briton who until now has been treated pretty much like the Woking outfit's Golden Boy.