In the sprint race, Norris started at the front, but he had a tough time at the beginning and struggled with his tires during the 19 laps. However, he performed really well in the main race on Sunday.
During the race, there was a safety car, and Norris took advantage of it by changing to hard tires. This helped him stay ahead of Sergio Perez from Red Bull and secure second place behind Max Verstappen. This was Norris’s 15th time on the podium in his career.
McLaren’s performance was a pleasant surprise because they thought they would struggle at the Shanghai track. The track has many slow corners and a long straight, which doesn’t suit McLaren’s car very well.
Norris said the team was surprised by their performance in China. They didn’t expect to do so well, considering how they struggled before.
“We thought we would struggle more in certain areas, but we didn’t,” Norris said. “We’re still learning about the car, and maybe the track conditions helped us perform better.”
He explained that they weren’t just saying this to sound good; they were genuinely surprised because they’ve been behind Red Bull and Ferrari all year.
During the race, Norris was worried he missed the chance to pit when Valtteri Bottas’s car stopped on the track. But luckily, the safety car came out just in time for him to pit without losing much time.
“It was a bit stressful because I thought I missed the chance to pit, but everything worked out in the end,” Norris said.
The delay caused by removing Bottas’s car helped Norris gain an advantage over Perez, who had to pass another car after the restart.
“Things went our way, and it helped me stay ahead of Perez. That was lucky for us,” Norris said.
