Lando Norris apologises to McLaren fans for something that ‘shouldn’t have happened’ at US Grand Prix

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Lando Norris finished fourth in Sunday’s US Grand Prix despite starting on pole position. The race was defined by his run-ins with title rival Max Verstappen.

Verstappen passed Norris at the start of the race, with both drivers going off the track. That allowed Charles Leclerc, who had lined up fourth, to storm into the lead.

Norris effectively swapped places with Leclerc as he fell behind Carlos Sainz. Ferrari would go on to achieve a one-two finish.

McLaren ran long in their first stint, which gave Norris a tyre advantage over Verstappen in the closing stages. He reeled in the Red Bull but encountered a typically obstinate defence.

He got past on lap 52 but left the circuit in doing so, which earned him a five-second penalty. The McLaren pit wall felt he was ahead of the apex, so didn’t instruct him to return the position.

Norris had finished third in Saturday’s Sprint, meaning he collected 18 points in total from the weekend. Verstappen extended his championship lead to 57.

Lando Norris feels he ‘could have finished second’ in US Grand Prix

Addressing McLaren supporters on TikTok after the race, Norris apologised for what he felt was a sloppy performance. In particular, he rued his approach to the first corner.

Martin Brundle felt Norris wasn’t ‘aggressive enough’ at the start, having made a clean getaway. He failed to fully cover off the inside, prompting Verstappen to make a move.

Norris protested that Verstappen overtook him off-track, but the stewards tend to be lenient with lap-one incidents. The 24-year-old has started on pole six times this year but only maintained the lead once.

While he doesn’t think McLaren were fast enough to win, he does think he could have scored six more points. Norris was aided in qualifying by George Russell’s accident, which brought out double yellows and effectively ended the session early.

“I apologise because today was not a very good race from my behalf,” he said. “I lost a lot of positions in turn one, which shouldn’t have happened and did. That cost us a little bit of a better position.

“I don’t think we could have won the race today. I think maybe we could have finished second. We did finish third, apart from the penalty.”

Max Verstappen’s ‘kindergarten’ message to Lando Norris after US Grand Prix incident

McLaren also bear some culpability for their lead driver’s failure to finish on the podium. Peter Windsor says it’s ‘pretty clear’ that race engineer Will Joseph should have told Norris to give the place back to Verstappen.

Had he done so in a tactful manner, he could have renewed his assault on the very next lap. But he was always unlikely to pull more than five seconds on Verstappen in three laps.

Indeed, McLaren had to issue team orders to Oscar Piastri, instructing him to slow down so that Norris didn’t fall to fifth. This is another example of their hesitant management costing them.

Verstappen felt Norris had no grounds for complaint, even though the penalty has split opinion. He says F1 isn’t ‘kindergarten’ and his tactics constituted fair racing.