Norris baffled by costly slow start to Sao Paulo sprint

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After disappointment in Friday's Grand Prix qualifying where he missed out on the chance to contend for pole due to freak weather, Lando Norris was thrilled to prove his point in the Showdown - only for a Sprint win to slip through his fingers due to a poor start.

Norris had started on pole for Saturday's 24-lap race ahead of the two Red Bulls of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. But when the lights went out Sprint underway, Norris didn't get the jump start that he needed.

As a result, Verstappen was able to plunge down the inside of turn 1 and take control of the race. Norris subsequently even lost out to Mercedes' George Russell who had got the better of Perez off the grid..

Asked why he had suffered such a poor launch, Norris responded: "I have to review it," adding: "It's something to look back on.

Read also: Verstappen flies past Norris in T1 to claim Sprint win

"My initial start was good, but my second phase of the launch, maybe I was just a bit conservative," he suggested. "I don't think I had any wheel spin, I was just a little bit on the safe side."

Verstappen said his own start hadn't exactly been amazing - but it had been sufficient to give him control.

"It was important to try and get ahead at the start," he acknowledged. "The initial launch wasn't, let's say, amazing, but the second part of the start was very good. so we got alongside and then it was all about management."

Norris never got the chance to try getting the lead back from Verstappen, as he was overtaken by Russell in turn 4.

"I was caught sleeping a little bit with George on lap 1," commented Norris, who soon wrested P2 back from the Mercedes. "The pace was strong after."

Norris stayed close to the back of the Red Bull for the rest of the race but never managed to get within DRS range. Only in the final laps did the gap widen to four seconds by the chequered flag.

Norris said the margin was to be expected. "I tried to go after Max but just didn't have enough, but it was good fun," he told the media in parc ferme after the end of the Sprint.

"We're not fighting Max necessarily," he continued. "We're talking about competing against one of the best drivers in one of the best cars that's ever been in F1.

"We're not going to suddenly be fighting a Red Bull on a track where we almost didn't expect to be as good as it has been," he explained. "So many good surprises and a lot of positives for us [today]."

If nothing else, it was a good learning opportunity for Norris who will get to start tomorrow's Grand Prix from seventh place. "Things to improve for tomorrow," he acknowledged. "We'll just have to do a little bit more overtaking."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.