Coming into China, McLaren had nearly no expectations of excelling. Team Principal Andrea Stella said that the weekend would be one of only “damage limitation”. But somehow, Lando Norris brilliantly took pole position in a wet Sprint Qualifying by outperforming Lewis Hamilton by over 1.2 seconds. In the Sprint Race, however, Hamilton’s pressure forced an error from Norris, destroying his hopes of a maiden F1 win.

The 7-time champion was asked what he thought about Norris’ attempts at keeping P1 in a post-race press conference. “In that scenario, he should have just conceded and just parked up behind me,” he replied. “He probably would have had the pace to overtake me.” To analysts as well, this would’ve been the McLaren driver’s best move.

But, at that moment, Norris just wanted to regain the lead. In his attempt, he graced a low-grip part of the track, went wide, and ended up in P7. “I f***** up” was his team radio response, post-race. After the main qualifying, Nico Rosberg yet again questioned Norris about his choice of moves. “It just happens,” he replied. “I wasn’t too disappointed. I just lost positions and yea, it sucked at the time.”

He then considered Hamilton’s suggestion. “Could I have just given way to Lewis? Yes. But at the same time I give way, you think ‘Maybe could I have been on the outside?’ So, I am not too disappointed, that happens sometimes. I moved on from it quite quickly. Our race pace was not quick – DRS was saving me a lot. But I’m hoping tomorrow we can do a slightly better job than we did.”

This is a different, non-critical version of Norris that fans have gotten to see. The Briton is known to be quite hard on himself after his mistakes derail results. In the main qualifying session too, he felt short of the podium places, but maintained composure, nonetheless.

Lando Norris collects himself after losing to Fernando Alonso in Qualifying

After Norris lost his golden opportunity to win the Sprint race, McLaren Boss Andrea Stella wasn’t unhappy. He supported his driver, asking him not to apologize to the team. Stella even shouldered the blame by saying that the Woking outfit needed to give him a better car. It is such leadership that has rubbed off on Norris’ attitude.

“I’m very happy with today,” the Briton said, despite losing P3 to Fernando Alonso in Qualifying. “It’s close with Fernando. Sometimes you are 2 hundredths ahead, sometimes you are just behind. Not a lot more I can ask. The Red Bull was clearly in a different league this weekend, both in Quali pace and race pace. I’m happy with today. Still a good day. Would I have loved to be ahead of Fernando? Yes.“

Overall, McLaren had a pretty good day. Moreover, Alonso has admitted that Aston Martin’s race pace is “not good”. So, contrary to their expectations of “damage limitation”, Lando Norris & Co. now has a chance at a podium.