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Would Norris have won the Qatar GP without a penalty? 'The pace was good!'
- Jeroen Immink
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has responded to claims stating that Lando Norris would've won the Qatar Grand Prix if it wasn't for his penalty. The McLaren driver finished in 10th place after a 10-second stop-go penalty dropped him to the back of the grid. The stewards believed that Norris had ignored double-waved yellow flags on the straight, failing to slow for them. Team boss Andrea Stella has since given an explanation of Norris' race.
Could Norris have beaten Verstappen in Qatar?
Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix, taking his second win in three races. Norris finished much further down the pack. Having overtaken George Russell at the start, Norris stayed a few seconds behind Verstappen in second place for the majority of the race. After receiving the penalty, Norris still clocked the fastest lap and worked his way back up into a points-paying position, P10.
Could Norris have won the Qatar Grand Prix?
After the race at the Losail International Circuit, Stella shed light on Norris' performance. According to the Italian, he knew Norris was fast, but he was unsure if the race win was possible. "The pace on the hard tyres was quite good, and we have seen already that often this season I have to say that, towards the end of the race on hard tyres, we can extract some additional performance out of the car. At the same time, I think the effect of the dirty air would have been important, and as soon as you go below one second while you get the DRS benefit, you start to lose quite a bit in the corners. So difficult to say, not necessarily would have won the race." Stella said.
Ferrari has caught up considerably with McLaren in Qatar. The upcoming final race in Abu Dhabi will determine who will win the constructors' title. The gap between McLaren and Ferrari currently stands at just 21 points. It's all to play for at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon
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