Mexico City (AFP) – Lando Norris said he plans to continue his policy of being relaxed and focused on just himself after taking a one-point lead in the Formula One drivers’ world championship by winning Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix. As McLaren team-mate and chief title rival Oscar Piastri fought to finish fifth, Norris cruised to a commanding 30-second triumph ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who resisted a late charge by Red Bull’s four-time champion Max Verstappen with the aid of a late Virtual Safety Car intervention.
It was Norris’s first win in Mexico and the 10th of his career, lifting him to 357 points in the title race ahead of Piastri on 356 and on top for the first time in six months since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in April. With four events remaining, Norris has seized the momentum and is also 36 points ahead of in-form Verstappen, who has reeled off six consecutive podium finishes to reduce Piastri’s 104-point lead at the end of August.
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“It’s one weekend at a time for me,” said Norris, whose competitive mentality and composure has been questioned this season. “I’m happy and I’m focused on myself. I’m just keeping my head down and I keep to myself. It’s working for me at the minute so I’m happy… But, what a race. I could just keep my eyes forward and focus on what I was doing.”
Staying calm amid a carnival atmosphere at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, he added: “It was pretty straightforward, which is just what I wanted. A good start, a good launch and a good first lap… And then, I could go from there. I just stay relaxed and it helps. It helped me get a good start and it’s the best thing. For me, this is awesome and I love it, my first win in Mexico and what a beautiful one to win here in this stadium.”
– ‘Trying to learn’ –
Piastri, who emerged from a mostly desultory weekend with a feisty race, admitted that he had to change his driving style to adapt to circumstances after seeing how Norris has adapted in recent races. “Today, there was a lot of fight. The whole race I was right behind someone and struggling with dirty air, so that was pretty difficult,” Piastri said.
“For me, the biggest thing is trying to learn the things I want to learn. Yesterday, it became obvious after the session that there were a few things I had to change pretty majorly in the way I was driving. Today was about first trying to implement that. If I’ve made some progress with that I will be happy, but obviously, when your team-mate wins the race, finishing fifth is not that extravagant.”
“I think I’ve had to drive very differently in the last couple of weeks. It has been a bit to get my head around. I’ve been driving the same all year, but the last couple of weeks the car and tyres required a different way of driving. I’ve not really gone to that. I tried a few things today. It is nothing to do with the car. Given how the pace had differentiated in the last couple of races — Lando has found it easier to dial into that and I haven’t. It’s about adding tools to the toolbox rather than reinventing myself.”
© 2024 AFP
