23/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Lando Norris has admitted that he had a wager that he would lose out to the Ferrari's in today's Chinese Grand Prix.
Having missed out on his chance of victory in the Sprint after running wide in the opening corner, Norris was expecting to lose out again today, confident that the Ferrari would have better race pace.
However, maintaining fourth in the opening laps he progressed to third on Lap 7 when he passed Fernando Alonso and subsequently passed Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen to take the lead when he opted to extend his opening stint.
Essentially getting a free pit stop under the VSC - albeit a lap later than he wished - he retained second until the end of the race, and at the flag was over 5s ahead of Perez.
"I made it a bet to how far behind the Ferrari we would finish today," he revealed at race end. "I thought 35 seconds and I was very wrong by that," he laughed.
"So yeah happy to be wrong with myself for my own bets but a good day for everyone.
"I'm very happy," he beamed. "I'm happy for the whole team they deserve it, good pit stops. It just today worked out, I don't know why, I really wasn't expecting it to be the kind of race we had today but comfortable.
"Can manage the tyres a lot which was a much easier task than what I had yesterday and I could just push the car. I felt great and felt comfortable so a good day, good points and another podium so very happy.
"I was surprised by many things," he admitted. "The lack of pace from Ferrari today, our good pace and I guess more us compared to the Red Bull which was surprising. I mean I just wasn't expecting today at all. I got everything ready to go home early and not be on the podium.
"So it's a pleasant surprise but it shows the team has done a good job. We're working hard and it's paying off."
Check out our Sunday gallery from Shanghai here.