Unheard team radio shows McLaren blaming Lando Norris for Alex Albon traffic

McLaren appeared to blame Lando Norris for hitting traffic on his final lap in SQ3 at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Norris was second behind teammate Oscar Piastri after the first runs in SQ3.

Norris dropped to third after George Russell clinched provisional pole position, before being beaten by Piastri.

The F1 championship leader couldn’t improve on his final effort, leaving him third for the sprint race on Saturday.

Norris’ final lap was seven-tenths off the pace and was deleted after he ran wide at the final corner.

It was severely compromised by Alex Albon, who was running ahead of him at the time.

Albon was on a flying lap himself, so didn’t break any of F1’s regulations.

However, a team radio exchange with race engineer Will Joseph after sprint qualifying showed where McLaren felt the blame lay.

Joseph reported: “That’s P3.”

Norris replied: “Yep. all good. It’s our own fault for going out too late.”

Joseph then seemed to blame Norris, saying: “You let Albon through mate!”

Norris then acknowledged his error: “Yeah no you’re good. My bad. My fault.”

Given Piastri was able to complete a lap without any traffic — and was sent out considerably earlier than Norris in the session — McLaren should take more responsibility.

Norris gave a short response to what happened with Albon when talking to F1 TV.

When asked if the Albon traffic ruined his lap, Norris replied: “Yeah but that’s life.”

“The pace was there” for Norris in Qatar

Despite missing out on a front-row start for the sprint, Norris was happy with his overall pace.

“No, no. The pace was there,” he added. “I just made a mistake at the last corner on my first lap and didn’t put it together. The pace was there. I just didn’t put it together.”

With overtaking difficult at the Lusail International Circuit, Norris doubts that he will finish higher than third in the sprint unless he gets ahead of Russell on the first lap.

“I’d be stupid to not try and win,” he explained. “I am here to try and win. I will see what I can find overnight for tomorrow. It’s impossible to overtake.

“I think I am probably going to finish three. Hopefully I can at least get Goerge off the line or something — that’s probably the most I can hope for.”