F1 | Norris: “The lack of pace of the Ferraris surprised me”

If Sunday in Suzuka had represented a partial disappointment for Lando Norris, the McLaren driver made up for it with interests in China. The balance of the weekend in Shanghai speaks of a beautiful pole position for the Sprint signed in the wet, but then nullified by an error at the first corner, but above all of second place in the actual race, behind the usual Max Verstappen.

A great feat for the British driver, who not only managed to repel the Ferraris' comeback attempt, but managed to slip his MCL38 between the two Red Bulls. It's true that in this he was helped by a Safety Car that arrived at the right time, which allowed him to make just one stop, but it's undeniable that at the restart he managed to keep Sergio Perez at a distance who, like him, had mounted some new tires on the occasion of neutralization.

As soon as he got out of his car, at Nico Rosberg's microphone, Lando did not hide the fact that he was really surprised by the progress of his race, also because in yesterday's Sprint, net of the error in the first corner, his pace had not been equally good. And, in addition to the Red Bulls, the Ferraris also seemed to have more.

“I'm surprised. I'm very happy for myself and for the whole team, who deserve this result because they made excellent pit stops. In fact, today everything worked at its best. I didn't expect to have a race of this type, but I I felt comfortable and managed the tires very well. It was much easier than yesterday and I was able to push hard on the day, lots of points and another podium, so I'm very happy.” Norris, who was also voted “Driver of the Day” by fans.

What surprised him more than anything else, however, was the flop of the Ferraris, who also paid for a lackluster start: “I was surprised by many things: by the lack of pace of the Ferraris, by our good pace even compared to the Red Bulls. And It was surprising how fast we were and I absolutely didn't expect us to be able to go so fast today. I thought I would have been overtaken much earlier and that I wouldn't have been on the podium. But it's a pleasant surprise, which shows that our hard work is paying off “.

When the former world champion asked him what he would have bet on before the start, he concluded with a smile: “We expected to finish behind the Ferraris, we estimated a gap of 35 seconds, but I was spectacularly wrong. But I'm really happy to make these types of bets wrong.”