JUST IN: Lando Norris Reveals Lewis Hamilton Theory after Ferrari pace Vanishes… Read more

Lando Norris Offers Lewis Hamilton Theory After Ferrari’s Pace Dips in Chinese GP

Lewis Hamilton put his Ferrari on Sprint pole and claimed victory, but when it came to the main event on Grand Prix Sunday, the performance was nowhere to be seen. Chinese Grand Prix winner Lando Norris speculated that Hamilton had benefited from being free of dirty air in the Sprint, contributing to his strong performance.

Norris, who crossed the line second in the race, explained how dirty air impacts performance, even from a distance of three seconds behind another car. He suggested that Hamilton’s difficulties during the Grand Prix could be attributed to the issues caused by dirty air, which Hamilton had avoided in the Sprint.

Hamilton’s Sprint performance, which saw him dominate from start to finish, could not be repeated on race day. He qualified fifth, just three-tenths behind Oscar Piastri, Norris’ McLaren teammate, who took pole. However, Hamilton would finish the race in sixth position, and things got worse when he was disqualified for excessive plank wear after the race. His Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who had finished fourth, was also disqualified as his car was found to be 1kg underweight. Pierre Gasly, who drove for Alpine, suffered the same fate for an underweight car.

Norris followed Piastri in a McLaren one-two finish, with Mercedes’ George Russell rounding out the podium. Norris admitted he struggled to pull away from Russell, thanks to dirty air and a brake pedal issue with his McLaren MCL39. He highlighted that while Hamilton led the Sprint comfortably, benefiting from clean air, his own experience in the race was different.

“As we saw yesterday, Hamilton in the lead was fast,” Norris explained. “It’s easier when you’re leading because you don’t have dirty air and have more grip. That makes the race easier. It might sound far, but even at three seconds you start to feel that effect. To pull away from George, I had to push in dirty air, and when you’re doing a one-stop, you wonder whether the tyres will last. I felt like my pace was really good, but I couldn’t push as much as I wanted.”

Despite the challenges, Norris secured a second-place finish and remained at the top of the Drivers’ Championship standings. Reflecting on the race, Norris described it as “crazy,” pointing out that their strategy shifted from an expected two-stop to a one-stop, as the hard tyre performed better than anticipated.

“It was a long second stint, but a very good race,” said Norris. “Getting another one-two finish is exactly what we wanted. My pace was really good too. We made many improvements since the Sprint Race, and the balance was much more where I wanted it. My pace was stronger, I felt more confident, and we got good points.”

While Norris focused on the impact of dirty air, Hamilton pointed to changes made to his Ferrari’s setup as the reason for his struggles during the race. After a strong Sprint, Hamilton and the team made adjustments to improve the SF-25’s performance, but the results were disappointing.

“I’m glad that we tried something,” Hamilton told Sky F1. “We made some changes because we’re trying to move forward and improve the car, but we made it quite a bit worse going into qualifying, and then it was even worse in the race.”

Hamilton revealed that while Ferrari hadn’t made major changes like raising the ride height, they did make several smaller adjustments that together negatively impacted the car’s performance.

“Charles tested something in Bahrain, and I hadn’t tested it, but we both went that way, and it was mad [laughs]. I know not to do that again.”

With Ferrari sitting fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, 61 points behind leaders McLaren, Hamilton and the team have work to do if they want to challenge for the title in the coming races.

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