Lando Norris has admitted that he is not proud of using the benefit of team orders to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday, Afrosport reports.
His McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri led from pole for the sprint but part of the strategy was to allow him to move over for Norris towards the end of sprint if it remained a 1-2.
The Australian obliged and it allowed Norris to reduce his deficit to Max Verstappen in battle for the world championship to 44 points.
Regardless, he thanked Piastri for helping him in his championship fight with Verstappen.
“Not proud about it, but we worked well as a team together, so I thank Oscar,” he said after the sprint.
“We’ve done a great job as a team. Today was the result that we wanted. Oscar deserved it, but we did what we had to do.
“So I thank him and the team. We had great pace, so looking forward to qualifying and the race tomorrow.”
LANDO NORRIS WINS #F1SPRINT AT INTERLAGOS!!!
Piastri secures a McLaren 1-2 with Verstappen coming home in third #F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/gAsGau5hUv
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 2, 2024
Norris will now turn his attention to securing pole position for Sunday’s main race in Saturday’s qualifying session.
