A “scared” Lando Norris admitted he lived his worst nightmare in the Chinese Grand Prix after he suffered a brake problem which nearly cost him second place.
Norris finished runner-up to McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri in Shanghai to extend his championship lead from two points to eight after the opening two rounds of the new Formula One season.
But the 25-year-old was forced to nurse a brake problem which struck his McLaren in the closing stages of Sunday’s race.
Norris might have challenged Piastri in the final laps but instead almost fell into the clutches of George Russell.
In the end, he crossed the line just 1.2 seconds clear of the Mercedes man.
“It was scary,” said Norris. “It’s like my worst nightmare, when the brakes are failing and I was losing two, three, four seconds in the last couple of laps.
“I was a bit scared and we survived but I was lucky to finish the race which is not something you want to be saying.
“Brakes are something you hate but something you really do need and they can save your life. So it was a sketchy last couple of laps, because the brakes were getting worse and worse every lap.
“The team knew about the problem before they told me about it but they wanted to keep me calm. I would have loved to have given it a little try and put Oscar under pressure but not today. However, I am satisfied with the result.”
Norris delivered a statement win at the opening round in Melbourne a week ago to lead the championship for the first time.
However, he has failed to be on Piastri’s pace this weekend with the Australian following up his maiden pole position with a flawless drive to claim the third win of his career.
Norris faltered in the sprint to finish only eighth and qualified in third for the main event.
But a strong start propelled him ahead of Russell at the opening bend before he was forced to re-pass the Mercedes man after the sole round of pit-stops.
Russell claimed earlier this week that McLaren’s car is quicker than the Red Bull machine which won every race bar one in 2023 and the British team’s one-two here underlined their speed.
However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “For us these kind of comments are distractions we don’t take.
“I don’t think we have enjoyed any more advantage than one or two tenths of a second, not in qualifying nor in the race. Ferrari were better than us at the start of the weekend, so in terms of a pecking order, we have our feet firmly on the ground.”
