Lando Norris said his growing brake failure during the Chinese Grand Prix was a “nightmare.”
The McLaren driver reported his brake pedal felt as if it was “going long” for many laps towards the end of the race. His race engineer Will Joseph repeatedly urged him to put less pressure on the brakes.
Norris was within a few seconds of race leader Oscar Piastri when the problem developed, and he appeared reluctant to slow down to begin with, but eventually dropped almost 10 seconds behind his team mate.
The experience was “scary,” said Norris after the race. “It’s like my worst nightmare.
“Whenever I have a nightmare, it’s when the brakes are failing. I was losing two, three, four seconds the last couple of laps. So I was a bit scared.”
George Russell closed rapidly on Norris, but finished just over a second behind him.
“We survived, and we made it to the end,” said Norris. “So I would have loved to have given it a little try and put Oscar under a little bit of pressure, but not today.
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“So we’re satisfied, a great result and we’ll go again next time.”
Norris moved into contention for victory when he passed Russell for second at the start of the race. However he had to pass his rival a second time later in the race.
“The start, I was kind of hoping for exactly that,” said Norris. “Turn one went to plan.
“But then George got me on the pit stops. I was a little bit nervous, but our pace was a lot better in the second stint.
“So a tough race just with the management and I don’t think many people expected a one-stop today, so it was good. Oscar drove well, he was quick the whole race. I tried to get close, but in the end, just couldn’t.”
Asked whether he thought he could have challenged Piastri for the victory, Norris said: “It doesn’t matter. He deserved the win, and he drove very well all weekend. So I’m happy with the second.
“It’s good points. It’s great points for us as a team with a one-two. So a big thanks to everyone in papaya. Just how we wanted the race to go so we’re very happy.”
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2025 Chinese Grand Prix
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