NORRIS AT CENTRE OF INCIDENTS
Lando Norris has said that he has no issue with either incident that prevented him from wrapping up the Formula 3 European Championship with a round to spare at the Red Bull Ring last weekend.
Norris was challenging Motopark’s Joel Eriksson for the lead of the final race when he misjudged a move, hitting the back of Eriksson and breaking off his right front-wing end-plate. With the wing damage slowing him, Norris became vulnerable to attack from secondplace Ralf Aron. On the final lap, Aron locked up and slid into Norris, sending them both into the gravel trap.
An eighth place would have been enough for Norris to clinch the title, but his non-finish means that Maximilian Gunther still has a chance going into the final round.
Carlin’s Norris has the championship lead on 411, 72 points ahead of Gunther with 75 in total on offer for the Hockenheim finale on October 14/15.
Norris said: “I obviously just misjudged it pulling to the right and damaged my front wing [in Eriksson incident]. I struggled after that, especially in left-handers.”
Of the Aron clash, he said: “Because he was so close he lost downforce, which turned me around. I don’t blame him.”
The stewards disagreed with Norris, slapping Aron with two licence penalty points and a 20-second time addition - although the latter punishment made no difference as he was classified 18th and last anyway.
Despite two wins, Eriksson dropped out of title contention, as did Briton Callum Ilott, who won the opening race for Prema.