I’m not here to let everyone in front of me, Norris commented on the collision with Leclerc

Both McLaren drivers were not without collisions during the Brazilian GP. Ricciardo hit Magnussen on the first lap and both drivers were forced to retire. Norris was able to continue the race after contact with Leclerc until an electronic failure ended his Sunday prematurely.

The British driver started the race perfectly, moving ahead of the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to fifth place at the start. On the restart, the Monaco driver tried to take back his position but ended up briefly in the barrier after contact at turn six.

Leclerc didn’t give up though, and after a great drive he managed to fight his way up to fourth place. He has now caught up with Sergio Perez, who he is competing with for second place in the Drivers’ Cup.

“He wanted to pass me on the outside track, there was light contact. Of course I didn’t want any contact, I needed a clean race. But I’m not here to let everybody in front of me, I tried to keep my line as much as I could,” Norris commented on his collision with Leclerc after the race.

“Maybe I could have left him five centimetres more, maybe he could have left me five centimetres more. Maybe he should have assumed I wouldn’t keep that inside track for the whole corner,” Norris told Formula 1.

The McLaren driver received a five-second penalty for the incident. But it didn’t have much effect on the race result, as Norris had to stop his car after 53 laps due to an electronic fault.

“I doubt we would have finished on points anyway. We were just slow. Maybe we could have finished tenth, ” the Briton added about Sunday’s race.

The Drivers’ Cup is already decided for the talented driver. With 113 points, he is guaranteed to finish seventh, far ahead of teammate Ricciardo, who has 35 points.

But the failed Grand Prix has dealt a severe blow to McLaren. It is still battling with Alpine for fourth place in the Constructors’ Cup. The French team took 14 points from the race and enters the final race weekend with a 19-point lead.

Source: Formula 1