Lando Norris fought with Lewis Hamilton among others for a spot in the top five at Suzuka, but reveals that he did not have all overtaking maneuvers under control. According to the reigning world champion, he unintentionally passed his compatriot purely because ‘my battery then kicks in’. Norris explains how drivers thus do not have full control over the power unit, and receives support in this from Max Verstappen.
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Lando Norris drove a fairly anonymous race to fifth place in Japan, but still got into a few fights with his fellow drivers. Among others with Lewis Hamilton, on whom the reigning world champion made an unwanted overtaking move. “I didn’t want to overtake Lewis at all at that moment. It’s just that my battery then kicks in. I don’t want that, but I have no control over it,” Norris tells Motorsport.com about the moment he almost became a passenger in the MCL40.
NOW ONLINE: 40 pages Race Special GP Japan: our online magazine with news, reactions, analysis and interview!
“So I overtake him, and then I have no battery left, and then he just flies past. This isn’t racing, this is yo-yoing. Even if Lewis says it’s not, it definitely is yo-yoing.” For Norris, however, the bigger problem is that under the new regulations he sometimes feels powerless behind the wheel. “When you are so completely dependent on what the power unit delivers, you as a driver should at least have control over that, and that is not the case with us.”
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Support from Verstappen
Max Verstappen shares the opinion of the McLaren driver. According to the Dutchman, it became clear once again at the Suzuka circuit how difficult it is for drivers to time an overtaking maneuver so that they are not immediately vulnerable to a counterattack. The driver experienced this himself in his fight with Pierre Gasly. “In general, you just have to be very careful with how you use your battery,” Verstappen said. “The problem, of course, is that you have a long straight, then just a small chicane and then another long straight.” The Red Bull driver is referring to the long straight before 130R.
“So if you use your battery on one straight, you have nothing left on the other. On some other circuits you have a long straight and then maybe a few corners and you have time to recharge, not here”, Verstappen further explained. “That is basically in many places where you want to overtake: then there is only one corner to recharge and then another long straight. That makes it basically impossible to use the battery, because it is completely inefficient to do so.”
NOW ONLINE: 40 pages Race Special GP Japan: our online magazine with news, reactions, analysis and interview!
