Norris explains bad start: "Not allowed to change it".

The McLarens occupied the second row of the grid on Sunday afternoon. McLaren were hopeful of a good result now that both drivers could start so far up front. But where Daniel Ricciardo got away well, Norris could not get away. While the young Briton was being overtaken on all sides, the car got off to a slow start and he was eventually able to keep up with the field. However, he had already dropped to sixth place.

Incorrect settings

Norris explained to Motorsport.com that his poor start was known to him even before the lights came on. He explains that the settings for his car were not correct : "It's not allowed to change it". The McLaren driver knew what a difficult task he was facing and rowed with the oars he had. He responded as usual to the extinguishing red lights and tried to get his car going as quickly as possible to minimise the loss.

Norris eventually drove a solid race and was able to defend his position through a long stint on the medium compound. A slow pit stop caused him to lose a place to Lewis Hamilton, although he is unsure whether he would have stayed ahead of the seven-time world champion in the race if the pit stop had gone well, and he finished in P7. Not what he had hoped for, but the team and himself said to learn from it and move on to the next race.