Lando Norris rues poor strategy call from McLaren:…

Lando Norris says he will take what happened during his disastrous Qatar Grand Prix "on the chin" after a costly choice not to pit under the safety car ruined his race.

The McLaren driver slipped back in the title fight after a safety car was called at the Losail circuit following a clash between Pierre Gasly and Nico Hulkenberg. While Max Verstappen - and every other driver - pitted for fresh tyres, both Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri stayed out.

“We could have done many things differently but we didn’t and we thought we did what was correct, so nothing wrong,” Norris said of the strategy. “t wasn’t... I still had a long race ahead of me so I had to focus and do my best,” he added.

On whether McLaren should have pitted on lap 7, the Briton admitted that both he and Piastri should have, even if that meant him losing time in a close double stack.

“Probably yes, but both of us should have done,” he said. “I would have been had over either way because we would have double stacked and potentially I would have lost time. A bit of time - I probably wouldn’t have lost a position I don’t think.

"But yeah, it’s something we’ll go and talk about and review. You know, I also have to have faith that the team are making the right call and that’s what I had to do.” Asked if he had yet been given more detail from the pitwall, he replied: “No, I just got out of the car.”

This sees the Briton leading the championship by only 12 points, with both Verstappen and Piastri still in mathematical contention as they head into the final round of the season at Abu Dhabi.

For the championship leader, nothing changes.

“It’s the same as every weekend. I try and beat them, they try and beat me. It’s nothing different. So I just want to go to bed,” he said. “Nothing I can do about it.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images)

"It’s obviously not our greatest day, not our greatest weekend. But I’ve had... I don’t know if anyone saw the run of results I had before that. It was great. I’ve put myself in this position. I’m still happy.

"It wasn’t our finest day, it wasn’t my finest weekend in terms of driving and putting things together. But that’s life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we all take it on the chin, and we’ll see what we can do next weekend.”

Norris finished fourth after Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli made a mistake, opening the track for the papaya-coloured car.

“He made a mistake. Thank you, Kimi," Norris ended.