“I can't describe how bad the grip is” - Norris voices concerns about 2023 tyres
The race resumed on Lap 56 after a second red flag due to Kevin Magnussen’s shunt at Turn 2.
Carlos Sainz spun Fernando Alonso into Turn 1, while both Alpines, Williams’ Logan Sargeant and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries were out of the race after crashes.
Norris put the blame on Pirelli, for their conservative tyre choice, stating “I can’t describe how bad the grip is” after the race in Melbourne.
“The people who make decisions don't know what's going on inside the car," Norris said. "We have a soft [tyre] on that’s 65 degrees [Celsius], and I can't describe how little grip there is on track.
“It's not a bad temperature, but the tyre doesn't work and on this surface with this tyre temperature, I can't describe how bad the grip is.
“That's why you see everyone going straight on in Turn 1 and locking up. It provides literally no grip, so you have to brake so early, which causes chaos and causes incidents.”
Norris believes grippier tyres would reduce the amount of “chaos” and “clumsiness”, describing the current state of tyres as “pretty terrible”.
“If the tyres felt like they gave us some grip, I think you'd be able to see a good race without chaos and some clumsiness and things like that. It's just difficult,” Norris added.
“I wouldn't say it's clumsy from everyone. It's just you're racing and there's no grip, as simple as that.
“We need a tyre that gives us some more grip, and actually a tyre that feels like it should be on a F1 car at the top of motorsport and at the moment, it feels pretty terrible.”
