Lewis Hamilton attended a PR event with George Russell before the Sprint race in Qatar. The seven-time champion brought up the starting positions of the Sprint race and took a dig at Lando Norris.

Hamilton highlighted the McLaren driver’s poor race starts and pole conversion record during the event.

George Russell qualified P2 for the Qatar sprint with a lap time less than a tenth slower than Norris. The McLaren driver has a poor record of starting from pole position. Hence, Hamilton encouraged Russell to win the Sprint as the No.4 driver was starting just ahead of him.

Lewis Hamilton said, “You should win today, the Sprint? I don’t think Lando’s ever held off the line, so you should be good.”
Russell then questioned, “I don’t think he’s- Has he held the lead at some point this year?”
The 26-year-old then shrugged off the thought as Hamilton suggested that the side that Norris starts on had a lot of grip. Russell agreed, explaining how all the grip is on the left since that is the racing line. The seven-time champion cheekily took a sly dig at Norris, who in reality got a great start off the line at the 2024 Qatar Sprint.

Lando Norris has bagged seven Grand Prix poles till now in the 2024 F1 season. But the Briton only managed to convert two of his seven poles into race victories. The McLaren driver would often lose positions off the start or on the opening lap. He has then been unable to overtake the ones who got ahead and lost the opportunity to convert the pole position into a win.

Although Norris did lead the race in Qatar until the last lap, he didn’t win as the Brit gave the win to his teammate Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris shares why he gave the Qatar Sprint win to Oscar Piastri
Oscar Piastri was put under pressure by Russell in the initial laps. Lando Norris, who was well outside the Aussie’s DRS, slowed down and gave his teammate the DRS to defend. The Brit provided the DRS for the entirety of the race but conceded his race lead coming out of the final corner.

When asked about why he gave away the win, Norris said, (via F1 TV)

“It was maybe closer than what I was wanting but I planned to do it since Brazil. Just what I thought was best. It was probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it and we did.”
Piastri swapped positions with Norris at the Brazilian GP and the Briton returned the favor to his teammate in Qatar. The 25-year-old explained that he didn’t mind giving up the sprint win since he’s in F1 to win GPs and championships.

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Edited by S Chowdhury