Motor racing-Not McLaren’s finest day, says Norris as lead cut to 12 points

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By Alan Baldwin

DOHA, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Lando Norris had his first chance to win the Formula One championship in Qatar on Sunday but a McLaren strategy error meant the Briton will have to try again in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

The wrong call on whether to pit after the safety car was deployed on lap seven cost Oscar Piastri a likely win and Norris a place on the podium. 

Piastri finished second and Norris was fourth behind Red Bull’s winner Max Verstappen.

Four-times world champion Verstappen is now second in the standings, 12 points off the lead, but Norris would have been champion had he won.

He still will be if he finishes at least third at Yas Marina, regardless of where his rivals end up.

“It is not our greatest day, it is not our greatest weekend,” the 26-year-old told reporters.

“But I don’t know if anyone saw the run of results I had before? They were great. I put myself in this position and I am still happy.

“It was not my finest day in terms of driving and putting things together. That is life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we all take it on the chin, and we will see what we can do next weekend.”

Team boss Andrea Stella said Piastri deserved to win and Norris should have been on the podium

He denied McLaren had made the error out of a desire not to favour either of their title contenders, since pitting both together when the safety car was deployed on lap seven would have helped one to the detriment of the other.

“It was a decision not to pit,” he said. “In fairness, we didn’t expect everyone else to pit.

“Once everyone pitted, it makes that the right thing to do. When you have the lead car, you don’t know what the others are going to do.”

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)