‘I swore a lot’ – Norris explains off-track moment behind Safety Car in Malaysia after P9 finish

Lando Norris has explained what caused his dramatic run off track behind the Safety Car during the latter stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with the incident dropping the Briton backwards en route to a final result of P9.

After the race start was initially delayed due to heavy rain – before a suspended start procedure followed – Norris was amongst those to bolt on the medium tyres for when the encounter eventually got underway. Those on slicks found themselves struggling in the mixed conditions, however, dropping the World Champion backwards from his original grid slot of P5.

An early Safety Car phase – following a stoppage for Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas – offered an opportunity to pit, which both Norris and team mate Oscar Piastri (who had swapped the medium tyres for intermediates at the end of the first lap) took advantage of.

There was further drama to come in the latter stages when, during another Safety Car period, Mercedes’ George Russell pulled to the side of the track on the main straight to retire his car, leading to those behind him bunching together.

This seemingly caught out Norris, who ran off track into the gravel after taking avoiding action around those ahead, dropping him back to P11. The British driver ultimately fought his way back to ninth when the race resumed, while Piastri ended the day in his original starting position of sixth.

Speaking to the media after the race, Norris conceded that the decision to start on the medium tyre had been “the wrong one”.

“There was enough of us that tried it, that obviously looked more convincing than it was, I guess, from the outside and from our laps to grid,” he explained.

“But I think the laps to grid and the inter tyre was a bit deceiving in terms of how much grip there was. I think a bit of it is also the fact we've never driven on the inter before and pushed on it, so it was hard for us to understand if it was like genuine, [if] the tyres were amazing or not.

“That also led to our decision, but in the end we got it wrong and I probably should have boxed at the end of the first lap, but we wanted to take the gamble.”

Norris went on to detail what led to his off-track excursion in the latter stages, with the 26-year-old subsequently summoned by the stewards for “driving erratically under Safety Car conditions, leaving the track and re-joining unsafely and/or overtaking another car behind the Safety Car”. In the end the Briton was issued with a reprimand.

“I swore a lot,” Norris admitted. “It's just I couldn't see from the angle and, from where I was, how much everyone had stopped because of George on the inside. So by the time I kind of looked at George and looked back, I could see them.

“But it's hard when you're directly behind to see if they're going 100, 200, or 10, and they were going 10, so I just got completely caught out. I guess it's my fault at the end of the day, so I was just unlucky with it. Everyone just checked up so much and I just got screwed over by it, that's all.”