Lando Norris called himself a “f------ idiot” after a heavy crash in qualifying left the McLaren driver 10th on the grid for Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and facing a huge battle to retain his lead of the championship.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pounced on the error, as he so often does, to claim pole. Norris’s team-mate Oscar Piastri was second and Mercedes’ George Russell placed third on the grid.
But it was Norris’s latest error in a season in which they are fast piling up that will dominate the headlines. The 27-year-old, who currently has a three-point advantage over Piastri in the drivers’ standings, was clearly furious with himself after bouncing off a kerb at turn four, losing control of his McLaren and smashing into the far wall of the high speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit, ripping off his front left wheel and damaging the suspension.