Lando Norris equals unwanted F1 record with Brazilian Grand Prix podium

Lando Norris has joined Nick Heidfeld on the unwelcomed record of most F1 podiums without a win, following his P2 finish in Brazil.

Norris was unable to turn his sprint pole into a victory on Saturday, but having been the only driver to show anywhere near enough pace to make the dominant Max Verstappen sweat, his prospects of a strong Brazilian Grand Prix showing were very high, even from P6 on the grid.

And once more Norris established himself as the class act of the chasing pack, claiming a P2 finish, 26 seconds up the road from Fernando Alonso in P3, while also setting the fastest lap and claiming the Driver of the Day award.

Lando Norris claims record-equalling 13th podium without win

For the sixth time in F1 2023, Norris took to the P2 podium step at Interlagos, while this marked the 13th Grand Prix podium in his career.

A first victory continues to elude Norris though, which has seen him join Heidfeld on 13 podiums without a win, an unwanted record in Formula 1.

Heidfeld scored twelve of his podiums with Sauber, while his final F1 podium came in 2011 with Lotus-Renault.

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Still, there was no disappointment from Norris with a further P2, the McLaren driver saying his race could not have gone much better than that.

“Very good,” he said when asked how his race went? “Couldn’t have gone much better to be honest.

“Good pace, similar to yesterday, which is the main thing and a much better start in the beginning to get from 6th to 2nd, which was a nice surprise. But my start yesterday was also good so I tried to work on it and it got better. But then the second start I was just a little bit aggressive on it.

“So I’m still happy, P2 is as good as we can get nowadays and for the time being, but very happy for the rest of it.”

Minus a brief challenge mounted at the race restart, following a red flag period after Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen crashed out, plus Charles Leclerc on the formation lap, Norris did not get another sniff at stripping Verstappen of the lead.

So, asked if he felt at any point that challenging Verstappen again was possible, Norris replied: “There’s little bits where the tyres come back to you a little bit and then you can push on, but Max always seemed to have an answer to everything, which is a shame. But fair play to him, he drove a good race.”

Lando Norris is now in contention to finish P3 in the Drivers’ Championship, the gap to Lewis Hamilton 31 points with two rounds remaining.

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