McLaren title contender Lando Norris is curiously eliminated in Q1 of the Formula 1 qualifying session in Baku: We clear up the confusion surrounding the yellow flag in Sector 3!
Title contender Lando Norris was unexpectedly eliminated in Q1 of the Formula 1 qualifying session in Azerbaijan and will only start Sunday’s Grand Prix from 17th place. Norris was about to improve his time of 1:43.609 at the end of the session before the TV picture caught the McLaren driver aborting his lap and turning into the pits.
“I had a yellow flag,” Norris radioed. “Can I drive again or do I have to come into the pits?” To which his race engineer Will Joseph replies: “No, we have to pit.” An apology follows shortly afterwards: “Mate, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”
But what had happened? Earlier, Esteban Ocon had touched the wall after turn six and suffered a puncture. The Alpine driver tried to drag himself into the pits, but briefly triggered a yellow flag in sector three. Norris’ race engineer warned his protégé, who was on the straight towards turn three at the time: “Watch out for parts between turns 6 and 7. I don’t know exactly where. ”
Analysis: Should Norris not have taken his foot off the gas?
Norris then set personal best times in sectors one and two. However, the critical situation follows at the exit of turn 15. In the onboard recording of Norris, you can see that a yellow flag lights up on the monitor in the background at the height of turn 16, which is the same as the start of the third sector, but it disappears again immediately. The monitor is now black.
As the Briton turned into turn 16, he made a mistake, allowed himself to be carried too far out and completely lost momentum on the two-kilometer-long straight section. When Norris saw the Alpine driving slowly on the left-hand edge shortly afterwards, but before the fast corner passages 18 and 19, the McLaren driver finally took his foot off the gas completely. In the onboard recording, however, it can be seen that a green flag flashes in the background despite the slow Ocon.
The TV images and vehicle footage suggest that Norris should not have slowed down at any time. Normally, a yellow flag would also have appeared on Norris’ steering wheel in this case, provided it applies to the sector in which a driver is currently located. However, at no time did a yellow flag message appear on Norris’ steering wheel. So it was all just a driving error?
Driving error not the main reason for Q1 retirement
Not really, because the telemetry data shows that even with the mistake in turn 16, Norris would have beaten his own time and would have made it into Q2. The decisive situation is Esteban Ocon’s braking before turn 18. Up to this point, Norris still had a lead of eight tenths on his previous lap. He would have lost some time by the finish line due to the lack of momentum, but not more than half a second
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admits after qualifying that there was a lot of confusion surrounding Esteban Ocon’s situation, but McLaren believes the yellow flag was waved: “The team didn’t tell [Lando about a yellow flag] because it was shown at the last minute,” he says.
“We just checked it with our tools and it was actually shown as yellow. We are in discussions with the FIA as to why that happened, because a yellow flag is not necessary when there is a car that is just slow. Everyone tries their best, I’m sure, but this time there was a situation that shouldn’t have happened. We paid the price for it. “
Norris hopes for strategic luck in the race
After qualifying, it is clear to Norris that he had to slow down: “The guy in front of me crashed and there was a yellow flag. When you then have a two-kilometer straight and have to take your foot off the gas at the start, there was nothing I could do, so obviously I’m a bit disappointed and frustrated, but there’s nothing I could do about it.”
Although the Baku City Circuit is regarded as an absolute overtaking track due to the long straights – there have been an average of 45.9 overtaking maneuvers per race since the first edition – it will be difficult for Norris to take many points from Azerbaijan from 17th on the grid. According to the Briton, it’s all about strategy.
“You have to do everything with strategy because you can’t overtake because there are a lot of cars at the back,” says Norris. “I mean, the car is fast and we hope it falls into our hands and I get some clear running, but on a street circuit everything builds up so much that you’re forced into a position where sometimes you can’t do much. We’ll hope for the best, but I’m not expecting anything magical unless a strategy comes into play. “