Lando Norris reveals McLaren disruption extent following hospitality fire

McLaren’s Spanish GP hospitality fire aftermath.

Lando Norris lost his shoes and usual pre-session quiet space after an electrical fire broke out in the McLaren hospitality unit at the Spanish Grand Prix, with all personnel safely evacuated.

Fire crews descended on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya shortly before FP3 to tackle an electrical fire which broke out in McLaren hospitality, with one team member taken to hospital for precautionary checks and later discharged.

Lando Norris ‘lost my shoes’ in McLaren fire scare

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

The incident did not derail Norris, who went on to claim a sensational pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix, though it was a “more stressful day” than he would have liked, though the loss of his shoes was “as bad as it got” for Norris, who was relocated to the office of McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown.

“First of all from that side, the best thing is everyone was safe, everyone is doing well, so that’s the best news from everything,” he told media including PlanetF1.com after qualifying.

“One person was taken to hospital just for some check-ups, but all good otherwise.

“So a bit of a scare for the whole team, never a nice thing, but just a bit more probably of a stressful day than I would have liked.

“I lost my shoes. And that was as bad as it got for me, honestly. But just different. I’ve not been in my normal room and I’ve not been able to maybe relax and chill out as much as what I normally do.

“But a lot of the teams honestly have been very, very nice to us, McLaren, in offering help and things like that. So that was all good from that side, but a shame that it won’t be used today or tomorrow I don’t think for anything, maybe not into the future, but it’s not anything that I know about for now.

“It’s all been a little bit messy, but I think I have one or two sets of everything and I think they managed to get some stuff out, but some of it is probably not the best to use or it smells pretty bad from the fire.

“Some things I got out, but I like to listen to my music and stuff before and Oscar [Piastri] complains a lot because my music is so loud pre-sessions, but I just didn’t have that this time and I’m up in the engineering office and Oscar’s then down in the truck below, and that’s Zak’s office that I’ve taken over.

“Honestly, nothing’s been an issue and I’ve never been that guy to kind of complain about these things. I honestly could just be doing nothing and just jump in the car when I need to, but when you have an ability to kind of have a few minutes to yourself and a couple of those things you take them, because you want to just relax and think to yourself for a few minutes before you go out and do it.

“So nothing for today, maybe tomorrow it will impact me a bit more that I can’t get just that quiet time that I love, but it’s not the end of the world, so I’m not going to complain about it.”

Key talking points after thrilling Spanish GP qualifying

Winners and losers from the Spanish Grand Prix qualifying

Spanish GP data: The key factors that saw Lando Norris steal pole from Max Verstappen

It looked as though Max Verstappen was on his way to Spanish GP pole before Norris delivered a stellar 1:11.383, pipping the Red Bull driver by a mere 0.020 seconds.

Norris said he had been lacking confidence through Turn 9 and Turn 14, but delivered on that final Q3 lap, which made all the difference for securing pole.

He continued: “So that was that and then from the team side, from the final laps, just the two high-speeds, so Turn 9 and the last corner, the two where the car is moving around, it’s bouncing a little bit and just doesn’t fill you with confidence going around such a corner when the car is kind of doing those things and can be quite unpredictable.

“And in such a high-speed corner, it’s just a bit nerve wracking to kind of commit and know when to take the risks.

“Over the weekend I took risks in pushing and roamed into the gravel a few times and damaged the floor a little bit here and there. So I’ve been pushing the limits I’d say the whole weekend, but maybe not as much in the very high speed where the consequences are more.

“But when I looked at the data after Q1, Q2, I was losing probably a tenth and a half, almost two tenths, to Max in just two corners. And that was just the two corners where I was least comfortable.

“But it was just about committing and hoping I came out on the other side in one piece and for that final lap, that’s exactly what I needed to do and it’s exactly what I did.

“So we’ve made some small changes for the rest of the track, but nothing to do with 9 and 14. That was just whether I wanted to take the risk of pushing that bit more and trying to get that little bit that I needed for a pole.”

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