Norris qualified third in his McLaren on Saturday at the Yas Marina circuit, behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, who go into the end of the season level on points in the drivers’ championship.
The Briton said shortly after qualifying that he was “a little nervous” about coming out behind the two title contenders, and that he didn’t want to be involved in their championship fight.
However, Andreas Seidl, director of the McLaren team, considered that it was important that Norris manage the start of the race ” as usual ” and not prepare the first lap with a special plan due to the situation in the world championship.
“If you try to be too cautious, going into the first few corners, or if you try to do something, you take away from the drivers that feeling of intuition, or that experience that they have, and then it starts to be dangerous,” Seidl said after qualifying.
“I think that should be the process tomorrow for Lando. In the end, the goal is clear, we want to get a good result for us as a team, and we want to get back to fifth place in the drivers’ championship with Lando. For that, we need a good result, and that’s how we approach it.
Norris will start the race four points behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the hunt for fifth in the drivers’ standings, and is just 4.5 ahead of Carlos Sainz in seventh.
However, he was confident because he can start the last round of the year well to press and recover Leclerc’s place without causing problems in the battle for the title.
“I think I have confidence in myself, I can do what I have to do without causing any controversy, without causing anything bad,” Norris said.
“That’s also part of their careers. It’s also up to them to race with other people. It’s been an easy championship for them, and I’m sure they’ve had much bigger hurdles this season than trying to outdo me in a McLaren.”
“So yes, of course we have to pick our battles wisely. And I know I’m racing Ferrari, but by doing that I can gain track position if I get involved and try to catch them at the start, so I’ll do it.”
“I just have to know that I’m not competing with them long-term in the race, and they have their own fight. I guess you have to leave a little more space and have a little more respect, because they are in that fight for the title”.
“The last thing I want is for something to happen. Yeah, this is tough. It’s a tough situation to be honest, we just have to wait and see.”
