Lando Norris thanked the medical team at the Las Vegas Grand Prix following his huge crash on the second lap of the race.
The McLaren driver was running in 13th place when his car snapped out of control in turn 11. Norris struck a barrier on the outside, then slid down to turn 12 where he suffered a second impact.
He told his team on the radio he was “okay” after the impact. He was initially taken to the circuit’s medical centre and then had further precautionary checks at the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, before being discharged. His team said he was in “good condition” afterwards.
Norris said there was little he could do to avoid the crash once his car snapped out of control. “I just bottomed out on the [start], lost the rear and hit the wall,” he explained.
“Not the way we wanted the weekend to end, especially considering the pace looked promising on Oscar [Piastri’s] side.”
“Big thanks go to the medical staff for checking me over, and to the team for the work they’ll now put in on the car,” he added.
Several of Norris’ rivals were warned his car had bottomed out prior to his crash. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said a bump in the track contributed to him losing control.
“There’s a bump in that place and you can see all cars sparkle when they go through this bump,” he said. “I think the combination of the bump and the cold tyres might have surprised him. But otherwise, we don’t see any any issue with the car, or of a different nature.”
Stella said the race promoters should remove the bump for future races to avoid a repeat. “That bump, if we carry on racing at night time, should be fixed because the tyres will always be cold, low grip and it becomes a very tricky corner.
“Already during the weekend we saw cases in which there was oversteer in that place. So independently of the timetable, we would strongly recommend that this bump is smoothed out.”
“In fairness, it’s the same for everyone,” he added. “So it just depends on your speed and the condition of your tyres, potentially just how your car is positioned there, how close you are to the car ahead. So there’s multiple factors.
“Maybe Lando made a kind of assumption that there was enough grip. But it’s a very tricky place. I’m sure all drivers will comment that’s something that needs to be fixed.”
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