Lando Norris drew significant attention last weekend, not because he flawlessly won the Bahrain GP – something his teammate did manage – but because he expressed a notable amount of self-criticism. After a failed qualification and a race riddled with minor errors, doubt crept in for the Lando Norris. Former world champion Jacques Villeneuve observed Norris crumbling under pressure.
On his Instagram page, Villeneuve dissected the past Bahrain GP. Oscar Piastri secured victory in his fiftieth Formula 1 race with cool composure, but Lando Norris fell short, finishing in third place. Granted, reaching the podium from P6 is not a bad achievement in itself, but McLaren was the clear favorite in Bahrain before the race. Any results other than a one-two finish indicate errors on the part of the papayas.
“It was a very different race than in Suzuka,” Villeneuve began. “Oscar Piastri, the grand master of the weekend, dominated the qualification and controlled the race – unlike his teammate, who seemed to buckle under the pressure.” Villeneuve continued about Norris’s recent races: “It seems to be a recurring theme this year; small mistakes here and there that add up to be very costly. Norris has managed to hold onto the championship lead, but he needs to be careful – Piastri is hot on his heels.”
Mistakes by Norris
Villeneuve was referring, among other things, to Norris’s ‘false start’; the 25-year-old Brit had incorrectly parked his MCL39 at the start of the race. Not much later, he lost valuable time behind Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc, which ultimately left him short of laps to overtake George Russell. The Mercedes driver finished on the podium for the third time this year.
It’s probably better than the situation at Red Bull, where a state of emergency was declared after the GP of Bahrain. Villeneuve believes that the Austrians’ performance could become a ‘trend for the rest of the season’. Both drivers finished – for the first time in a long time – only in the points, but reigning champion Max Verstappen did not get further than P6. Tsunoda scored his first points for the main team at P9. “Verstappen proved that there are clear limits to the RB21,” Villeneuve concluded.
