Featured Image Credit: F1 / Getty
Topics: Lando Norris, McLaren, Formula 1
Ryan Smart
Lando Norris suffered a shock Q1 exit at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix - and the exasperated McLaren driver explained what happened over an unheard clip of team radio.
Norris qualified 17th for the race after failing to beat his first flying lap, while other drivers around him improved.
The Drivers' Championship contender was just two tenths behind leader Charles Leclerc after the second sector, but went wide into turn 15 and then entered the pit lane.
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It appeared at first glance as if it was solely Norris' mistake that cost him a spot in Q2.
But the driver himself claimed over team radio that he had actually slowed for yellow flags, as well as his on-track error.
A yellow flag message appeared on the timing screen as Norris approached sector three, although TV cameras did not pick up the incident.
He then asked if had time to do another lap, to which his engineer Will Joseph simply replied: "No, we have to box. I'm sorry mate. They shouldn't have done that."
Norris later relayed the same comments to Sky Sports, before adding: "Everyone did their second laps, and I didn't. Just unlucky, that's all. I'm still hopeful we can get a good result. But nothing I can do."
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It later emerged that the turn 15 trackside panel - which warns drivers of an impending hazard on track - did flash after Alpine's Esteban Ocon suffered a puncture and was moving slowly to return to the pits.
Although TV cameras could not decipher whether the panel in front of Norris was yellow or white - indicating a slow-moving car - the McLaren driver was adamant that the panel was yellow.
Norris' early exit comes as a blow in his hopes of overhauling Max Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship.
The Brit entered the weekend 62 points behind the Dutchman, who hasn't won any of the last six races with Red Bull losing ground to the teams around them.
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More to follow...
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