‘I make my life pretty tough’ – Norris reflects on his recovery to P4 in Jeddah as he singles out area to improve

Lando Norris conceded his recovery from a P10 starting slot to fourth at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, following a crash in Qualifying, was "the best I could achieve" as he singled out his Saturday performances as an area for improvement.

Norris lost his Drivers' Championship lead to McLaren team mate and race winner Oscar Piastri on Sunday, with the Australian coming out on top in a battle with Max Verstappen, but a stunning fightback drive limited the damage for the Briton.

READ MORE: Piastri clinches victory in Saudi Arabia from Verstappen and Leclerc as McLaren driver becomes new championship leader

Having crashed at the start of Q3 on Saturday, causing substantial damage to his MCL39, Norris started at the foot of the top 10. Starting on the hard Pirelli tyres, progress was slow in the opening stages, with his early gains coming when Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda clashed on the opening lap.

But on a track that causes minimal tyre degradation, Norris pushed his tyres deep into the race, before switching to the medium compound and using the pace to climb the order and finish just a second shy of Charles Leclerc’s final podium spot.

“That was a tough one,” said Norris. “This track is tough, this temperature is tough and it’s flat out. There’s no saving on the tyres here, it’s flat out from start to finish. I was struggling – not in terms of physically, but just in terms of having enough of an advantage over the rest to come back through as much as I would have wanted.

“It would have been nice to get Charles and have a little podium and I’d drink all the champagne right now because I would love that – or the apple juice would be even better. I dream of that at the minute.

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“But I think it was the best that we could achieve today. Clearly, we’re not head and shoulders above the rest.

"As Oscar showed, it’s not an easy race. Max probably would have won if he hadn’t had the penalty. We’ve got those kinds of issues still. It’s not easy races, which just means that when I make mistakes like yesterday, like some other races because I’m just not getting as much as I need to, I make my life pretty tough like today.

“I’m still happy. I’m happy with my comeback. It’s the best that I could achieve and now I’m looking forward to a break.”

While Piastri has now taken three Grand Prix victories in the last four weekends, Norris’ sole success came at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Conceding the aspects he needs to improve on after finishing only nine seconds shy of his team mate, Norris said: “It’s my Quali, it’s my Saturdays which are not good enough at the minute, my one-lap pace. Like I’ve said before, it’s because I’m struggling a little bit with the car – Saturday was not the car, it was just me trying to take too many risks, so I’ve just got to peg it back.

READ MORE: Verstappen 'has made it very clear that he’s part of the team' as Horner responds to Red Bull future talk

“Clearly, I’ve got the pace and it’s all in there. It’s just sometimes I try to ask for a bit too much and sometimes I get a bit too eager for a little bit more and want to put the most perfect lap together and I just need to chill out a little bit.”

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