“It’s not my job, I just drive cars”. Lando Norris on being asked about Carlos Sainz’s lucky break at the Monaco GP due to a red flag

Lando Norris believes that the red flag in the Monaco GP was unfair but refused to comment on the rules. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, the McLaren driver felt that the red flag benefited some drivers, such as Carlos Sainz, while costing him a podium.

Sainz locked up and got a puncture on the first lap of the race, which put him at the back of the grid. However, the red flag brought out due to Sergio Perez’ accident with the Haas drivers, reinstated him back to third place on the grid. Drivers had mixed views about the reinstatement of the position, but the reason the place was reinstated was because not all the cars had finished a sector of the race. If Sainz had not been reinstated to third place, it would have given Lando Norris an opportunity to clinch a podium.

In an abrupt reply to Sportskeeda, Lando Norris refuted the idea of suggesting changes to the format to prohibit further situations like this. He felt that the Ferrari driver was just lucky and got a free pit stop when the red flag dropped. He felt it was a very similar situation to when Pierre Gasly won the Monza GP in an AlphaTauri in 2020.

In the Frenchman’s case, Lewis Hamilton, who was leading the race, was penalised for pitting tires when the pit lane was closed during a safety car period. Since the AlphaTauri had pitted prior to the safety car and many other cars pitted after, the order of the grid changed in such a way that Gasly was in the lead of the race from P11.

When Sportskeeda asked Lando Norris what he thought should be done to make sure there is no injustice in these kinds of circumstances, he replied:

“I don't know this is not not my job I just drive cars okay. I don't like doing all of these rules things, like that's not what I'm here for.”

Further commenting on the unfair situation, Norris said that such situations were a part and parcel of the game.

“Yeah, but that's the rules. It's the same as Pierre's win back when he won. He won because he got a free pit stop onto some different tyres, so... Unless you want to say you're taking that win away from me. a sudden, it's the same situation. I guess this one was more that he made a mistake himself. He ran into Oscar, gave himself a puncture. So that's just very lucky. I don't think it's the most fair thing, but I'm sure there's been moments in the past when maybe I've been fortunate from it and they fix the car a little bit or something like that," he stated

"So, when you think of it, in just the blunt way it is yeah frustrating and unfair that because someone makes a mistake and because of a certain amount of cars or whatever whatever the rule is didn't cross the line before the red flag and blah blah, that he gets to undo that mistake and gets a free pit stop. It's unfair .”

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Lando Norris feels the red flag threw away the only opportunity to race in the Monaco GP

The Monaco GP race saw top ten positions on the grid remain unchanged from qualifying to the finish line. The red flag brought out by the lap 1 incident gave the grid a free pitstop where most drivers changed to a hard tire, which saw them across the finish line. Ideally, a pitstop strategy livens up the race, whereas an overcut or undercut strategy tends to mix up the order. Lando Norris felt the red flag robbed him of the only opportunity to fight for a position.

Max Verstappen was heard telling his engineer on the radio, that he might as well have brought a pillow because the race barely had any overtaking opportunities. Norris was in agreement with Verstappen. He said that the Dutchman always had an honest opinion, suggesting that the race lacked action. The Briton felt the red flag denied drivers the only opportunity available to salvage themselves from their current positions.

“Yeah, I mean, to be honest, the red flag made everything more simple and less action -packed than it ever would have been. So I think there would have been at least, you kind of look up at the pit stops and see what things might happen at end. At least you're judging tire wear and all of these things to that point. But the fact we lost the only opportunity in a Monaco race that something might happen then it kind of throws any fun out the window you know or any action out the window the window," Norris said.

"So, I mean, it's still a chaos, like you're still mentally driving hard and you're still doing everything you can to save the tyres here and do this and that and be close when opportunities arise. Max is always just very honest in his opinions of things. But I mean, it's clear and I can happily say it's not the most exciting race and you just kind of driving around in no man's land doing nothing. So you don't feel like there's a lot of things to target or aim for on a day like today, but it's also how it's always been,” he added.

Lando Norris finished the race in fourth place, which has taken him to third in the driver’s championship. He has a total of 113 points and is only 25 behind Charles Leclerc, who is in second place. However, given Red Bull Racing’s troubles in Monaco, a podium would have pushed him closer to second place, making it a three way fight in the upcoming races. However, McLaren, Ferrari, and Red Bull Racing appear to be in a tight battle for both the drivers' and constructors' championships, which makes the rest of the season intriguing.