Norris blames “lack of talent” after Piastri beats him to first F1 win

Lando Norris bemoaned a “lack of talent” after McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri beat him to his first F1 victory in the sprint race.
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren in sprint parc ferme. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Qatar Grand Prix, Doha, Qatar,
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren in sprint parc ferme. Formula 1 World…

Piastri won the sprint race in Qatar from pole position, overtaking George Russell in the process.

Norris recovered from a poor first lap, where he dropped to sixth, to finish third behind Max Verstappen.

While Norris was able to finish inside the top three, it’s been an error-strewn weekend for the British Grand Prix.

He was a strong contender for pole on Friday, but he exceeded track limits on his best lap, meaning it was invalidated and putting him 10th on the grid for Sunday’s race.

During the sprint shootout, Norris was on course for pole but ran wide at the final corner, allowing Piastri to take top spot.

Speaking after the sprint race, Norris described the Qatar weekend as “frustrating”.

“Nothing just lack of talent,” Norris said. “I guess everyone has those weekends, this is the weekend for me. It’s just a shame I’m doing it when the cars is as quick as it is, so that’s what makes it more frustrating. It was very tough. Any chance to go backwards I pretty much took.”

Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL60. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18, Qatar Grand Prix, Doha, Qatar, Sprint Day.-
Lando Norris (GBR) McLaren MCL60. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 18,…

Norris continued his strong self-criticism, admitting “I don’t think I’ve ever been so frustrated with myself”.

“The team did an amazing job, it’s always going to be a shoulda woulda coulda but I should’ve been on pole today,” he added.

“I should have at least had a good chance to go for it yesterday against Max but I just made too many mistakes which have cost me, cost me positions today, now I have to start P10 tomorrow when we have a good enough car to finish in the top three easily. So I’ve just made my life tough, the team’s life tough when it should be the complete opposite and we should be going from the front.”

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