Featured Image Credit: Sky Sports/ Getty
Topics: Lando Norris, Baku, Alpine, Formula 1
Ben McCrum
Onboard footage of Lando Norris shock Q1 exit in Baku has further explained what happened.
Norris qualified 17th for this weekend's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, having only completed one lap in qualifying which was not good enough for him to progress.
Initially, it was believed that a mistake made by the British driver that led him to go wide into turn 15 is what caused Norris to exit the session.
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But now, onboard footage from the qualifying session have revealed exactly why Norris failed to progress to Q2.
Footage from Alpine's Esteban Ocon reveals that the French diver hit a wall early in his lap, causing his rear left tyre to puncture.
Despite this, he continued to drive and on turn 16, was forced to cut across the inside area, leading to a momentarily yellow flag.
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And onboard footage from Norris' second qualifying lap shows that just as he come through turn 15, he briefly sees the yellow flag flashing and immediately quits his flying lap.
Mere moments later, the yellow flag disappears but by that stage, Norris had already slowed down enough to ruin the lap and take him out of qualifying after just the first session.
Essentially, the 24-year-old was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, with no other driver impacted by the incident.
Speaking to Sky Sports after his qualifying exit, Norris explained: "There was a yellow flag, the car was good but everyone did their second laps so just unlucky that's all.
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"It is what it is but long race ahead, we have some good tyres in the bank so yeah, just try to be hopeful.
"I'm still hopeful we can get a good result. I think the car's quick, I think the lap I was on I should have easily gone second so yeah, bit frustrating but nothing I can do."
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc will start the race tomorrow in pole position having set the fastest qualifying lap today, with Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri in second and Carlos Sainz in third.
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Thankfully for Norris, Max Verstappen, his rival for the Drivers' Championship, also appeared to have an off day in qualifying, meaning he will start the race in sixth.