McLaren F1’s Lando Norris ponders the missed opportunity on pole at Spa after the horror crash

• Lando Norris was well on the way to securing pole position for the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.

• The driver had a horror crash on the Eau Rouge in the last part of qualifying.

• Norris has been released for racing today (August 29th).

• For more auto stories, visit Wheels24

Lando Norris claims he could have easily taken pole position for the Belgian GP if he hadn’t crashed out of qualifying. Instead, he drove to the hospital in an ambulance while compatriot George Russell put a Williams on the front row.

Norris was the driver to beat on Saturday (August 28) at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit on Saturday (August 28) before the start of Q3. The McLaren driver had set the pace in Q1 and again in Q2 in the wet. However, his chances of first pole position came to an end when he lost control due to Eau Rouge and his MCL35M spun in the crash barriers.

All four corners of the car were destroyed in the car, which required a new gearbox and a five-place penalty for the driver while Norris’ elbow was hit. For the race on Sunday he will be back in the car and regret his starting position 14 on a day on which he could have started right at the front.

It was a dramatic Saturday at Spa, in our first qualifying after the summer break in 2021?

Check out the highlights here – including this incident that Lando luckily walked away from and a battle for pole that was decided in 0.013 seconds ?? # BelgianGP ???? # F1

– Formula 1 (@ F1) August 28, 2021

Aquaplaning to Red Water

Norris told the media on Saturday night: “Everything went extremely well. Since the first lap in Q1 went perfectly and the car felt good, I felt safe with the car. I think it was difficult to get out in Q3.” because even on the out lap I said how wet it was and said it should be stopped or something because I was aquaplaning quite a bit.

“So it was just a tough situation: how much do you want to push, how much not? I think it’s a combination of a little bit too much for the weather at this point and aquaplaning a little bit in the middle of Eau Rouge, which is obvious does not end so well and in the end stays as it was.

“Of course I feel bad because it went very well, the car was on fire and Q1 and Q2 were extremely good. I think I could have easily fought for pole position. I’ve given the team a lot now. “To do, but there is not much I can do now.”

He added: “I think at the end of the day I think that my mistake and my mistake are. But I didn’t feel like I was taking too many risks at the same time. I think it was just the terms that made it so were tough. ” . And from what I’ve heard, many other drivers have complained that it should be stopped at the same time. So yeah, of course I was frustrated and annoyed, but we’ll try to make up for that. “

But while Norris was being transported to a local hospital for further examination, the Briton was well aware of what was going on in qualifying and, most importantly, what his compatriot Russell was up to.

Probably the biggest shock in qualifying of the entire season came for the Williams driver when he put his FW43B on the second row of the grid. He was relegated to pole position by Max Verstappen by Red Bull by three tenths.

Norris said, “I’m very happy for George too. I was watching in the ambulance on the way, I still wanted to watch. I cheered George on to get the pole.”