Norris ‘very lucky’ to finish Chinese GP due to brake problems

Lando Norris believes he was “very lucky” to finish the Chinese Grand Prix in second place after encountering brake problems that slowed him significantly in the closing laps.

McLaren told Norris he needed to avoid heavy braking after the championship leader reported a long brake pedal in the final part of the race, but he continued to try and keep the pressure on teammate Oscar Piastri. Then in the final two laps, Norris significantly reduced his pace to limit his brake usage, and he lost around seven seconds to George Russell who crossed the line just 1.3s adrift in the fight for second place.

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“I think they started to go quite early,” Norris said. “But you always get a bit of a tendency for the brakes to get a tiny bit longer. I think the team were hiding it from me because they saw the problem starting a lot earlier and they knew it was going to be a problem.

“The last 10 laps, I was pretty nervous about just being able to finish the race because it was noticeable how much worse it was getting every single lap and every braking zone. It's really not a nice feeling when you're in the car and you expect a nice solid pedal and there's just nothing and it goes to the floor. It doesn't fill you with confidence, especially on a fast track like this.

“So we were lucky simply to finish the race and still to finish ahead of George. I think the last couple laps were three or four seconds or more off. I would have loved to have pushed a little bit more and tried to give Oscar a bit of a run, but not today. [It's] something we need to understand and make sure it doesn't happen again.”

Norris said there had been no warning that such an issue could arise during the race.

“I think it was an issue that happened that shouldn’t have happened, basically," he said. "I think it was rapidly getting worse, probably quicker than the team were anticipating when they saw it. I think they saw it quite a bit earlier -- just after the halfway point of the race -- but then it was accelerating in deterioration.”

Despite the late concern, Norris finished second to give McLaren a one-two result and ends the weekend satisfied with his turnaround after a tough Sprint race where he finished eighth.

“I'm just satisfied for the result, for the team -- 50th one-two for McLaren is quite an achievement, so happy to be part of that, first of all, and a great race by Oscar," he said.

“I'm happy considering how bad my last few days have been and how much I struggled just to get comfortable and understand how to drive the car. To go to the pace I had today, which I think was very strong... it was a much better race than I was thinking I was going to have.

“I was nervous that I was going to struggle just as badly, honestly. But very satisfied to know how much I've improved from a driving point of view. Today was a much stronger day, so I'm more satisfied to know I've got answers for my struggles and that makes me happy.”