Lando Norris overcame the disappointment of losing his lap at qualifying to finish on the podium in the 2021 Imola GP
There was a ton of drama at the 2021 Imola GP thanks to a wet track even before the race started.
A wet track saw a lot of drivers struggle and with the track drying there was more drama to come. Valtteri Bottas and George Russell had a huge impact which saw the red flag come out.
This was just halfway through the face and Russell got one of his tyres on the wet grass and smashed into the Mercedes star.
Russell was upset at all this and had a bit of a quarrel with Bottas. However, the red flag was a gift for some of the racers as it allowed them to change their tyres.
Lewis Hamilton also was lucky as he had gone off the track trying to chase down Max Verstappen. The red flag saw him rejoin in ninth and he carved up the track to finish in second.
However, the driver of the day was Lando Norris. The British star was disappointed at seeing his qualifying time deleted on Saturday.
Norris would have started a career best third but was pushed down to seventh. He got a pick me up from Hamilton via social media and put on quite a show.
With Sergio Perez also suffering a penalty and other issues, Norris was third when the red flag hit. McLaren decided to use the soft tyres at the restart and he jumped ahead of Charles Leclerc at the restart.
However, things weren’t going to be easy for Norris as all the others were on the mediums.
As expected, Norris’ tyres started to drop off later in the race. He had almost 30 laps to go when he was on the softs and his rivals were on the mediums.
But, Norris did a great job of first dealing with Leclerc. Hamilton, for his part, came charging up the track and the two British stars had a great battle over the final laps.
Norris’ McLaren might have a ton of straight line speed but his tyres were done. Hamilton overtook him with a couple of laps to go and there was a fear that the two Ferraris would gobble him up.
But, that was not to happen, Norris kept his cool and his distance from the Ferraris to finish an incredible third.
He even won the driver of the day and jokingly said he didn’t think he had fans. This was Norris second podium in his F1 career after taking third in the Austrian GP last year.
Norris is one of the most popular stars on the track and suffice to say, many F1 fans were pleased with this performance.
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