<\/p>\n
Norris started fifth after a qualifying lock-up and initially gained a position from Isack Hadjar. However, Hadjar recovered the place before Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton also passed the McLaren driver.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Another lock-up dropped Norris behind Pierre Gasly and Kimi Antonelli, leaving the Briton needing to recover during the first Safety Car restart.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The opportunity disappeared when Franco Colapinto failed to make the opening corner and collided with Alpine teammate Gasly. Gasly was subsequently pushed into Norris at Turn 1.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
All three drivers retired because of damage sustained in the collision. \u201cAt the end of the day, I just got taken out by some drivers that shouldn\u2019t be in F1, to be honest,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Norris was also critical of personal performance and McLaren\u2019s lack of straight-line speed. \u201cI just was slow. I was struggling a lot on the straights. You saw how quickly everyone came past me,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just an impossible race out there for me from that side, straight-line speed, today.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Norris said McLaren would need to address the problem before the next race. \u201cHopefully, we get that fixed for next time. Otherwise, I still made the mistake,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The result was Norris\u2019s first retirement since the Monaco Grand Prix and ended a run of eight consecutive points finishes.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The setback came after an improved period for Norris and McLaren, including victories in the Netherlands and Hungary.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
McLaren had been challenging Mercedes at the front of the field, but the Baku result exposed weaknesses that could continue affecting performance during the remaining races of the triple-header. \u201cWe won two and should have won three of the last four races,\u201d Norris said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cPlenty of positives, obviously not this weekend. We were not quick enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Formula One calendar now moves to Malaysia before the field competes under the lights in Singapore.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Norris expects McLaren to face further challenges but believes the Malaysian circuit could suit the car better.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be in for another tough few weekends, I imagine,\u201d Norris said. \u201cMaybe Malaysia is a better one for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–F1\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-46571","news","type-news","status-publish","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Lando Norris criticised rival drivers after a restart collision ended a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix and damaged already slim hopes of retaining the world championship.","published_date":"","news_description":"Lando Norris criticised rival drivers after a restart collision ended a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix and damaged already slim hopes of retaining the world championship.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46572,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46571\/revisions\/46572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=46571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}