Lando Norris impressed in his rookie season, out-qualifying his team-mate regularly and scoring points on eleven occasions to finish eleventh overall. Here are all the facts and statistics from Norris’ 2019 season!
Lando Norris recently admitted that he’d proven himself wrong after doubting he’d be good enough for Formula 1 ahead of his debut. You wouldn’t have known that from his maiden weekend though, as he out-qualified his team-mate and reached Q3. Although he failed to score in the Australian Grand Prix, finishing twelfth, he’d go on to secure McLaren’s best result in over a year with sixth place in the Bahrain Grand Prix. He finished sixth again at the Red Bull Ring, but unlike his team-mate would not break in to the top five at any race this year.
Norris recorded his first of six DNFs in 2019 at the Chinese Grand Prix, after being bumped into by Daniil Kvyat on the opening lap. He’d go on to crash with Lance Stroll in Spain, but his other four retirements were all out of his hands – including his agonising stoppage just before the finish line at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Norris won the McLaren qualifying battle in 2019, albeit by the slimmest of margins, and recorded only one Q1 exit this season, which came at Hockenheim. He also gave McLaren their best qualifying result of the year with fifth on the grid in France. Despite qualifying ahead of Sainz regularly, he was often unable to stay ahead on Sunday afternoons, scoring only 34% of the team’s points. Norris was the only driver who didn’t finish where he started at any race this year. He lost positions nine times, and finished higher than where he started six times.
Norris ended the season with a streak of three consecutive points finishes, securing him eleventh in the Drivers’ Championship. After an impressive rookie year, Lando Norris will need to continue to work on his Sunday performances in order to challenge his team-mate more regularly in 2020.
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RACE STATISTICS
- Championship Position: 11
- Total Points: 49
- % of teams’ points scored: 34%
- Points Scoring Races: 11
- Best finish: 6th (Bahrain, Austria)
- Number of DNFs: 6
- Laps Led: 0
- Laps Complete: 1102 (19th)
- % of Laps Complete: 87.32%
- Distance Covered: 5656.994km
- Races gained positions in: 6
- Races lost positions in: 9
- Finished where started: 0
- Total positions gained on first laps: -5
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QUALIFYING STATISTICS
- Q3 Appearances: 14
- Q2 Exits: 6
- Q1 Exits: 1
- Best Qualifying Position: 5th (France)
- Worst Qualifying Position: 16th (Germany)
- Average Qualifying Position: 9.57
- Average Grid Position: 9.33
- Average Gap to own potential qualifying pace: 0.065
- Achieved own ultimate pace: 6
- Beat team-mate in how many qualifying sectors: 24 / 63
- Average gap to team-mate per sector in qualifying: -0.009
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A STATISTIC FROM EVERY GRAND PRIX
Australia: Lando Norris out-qualified his team-mate on debut for McLaren at the 2019 Australian Grand Prix. He recorded the team’s first Q3 appearance since the 2018 Monaco Grand Prix weekend, as well as their first appearance in the final part of qualifying at Albert Park since 2014. Norris became the youngest British driver to start a Grand Prix, being nine months younger than Jenson Button was when he made his debut at the same circuit in 2000.
Bahrain: At the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lando Norris followed in the footsteps of fellow British driver Jenson Button to finish sixth and score the first points of his career on his second Grand Prix appearance.
China: Lando Norris recorded the first DNF of his F1 career at the 2019 Chinese Grand Prix. 2019 is the third consecutive season where the driver starting from fifteenth has failed to reach the chequered flag in Shanghai.
Azerbaijan: A McLaren appeared in Q3 for the first time in Azerbaijan thanks to Lando Norris, who qualified in seventh for the 2019 event. He was one of three drivers to finish lower than where he started in the race – Norris, Kevin Magnussen and Sergio Perez all lost one place from where they started.
Spain: For the first time since 2015, neither McLaren driver progressed to Q3 at the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix. However, as a result of grid penalties, Lando Norris started tenth – ensuring a McLaren driver has started in the top ten in Spain in all of the last four seasons.
Monaco: After finishing eleventh in the 2019 Monaco Grand Prix, Lando Norris dropped one position in the Drivers’ Championship for a fifth consecutive race. He dropped out of the top ten in the standings for the first time since the Australian Grand Prix.
Canada: Lando Norris recorded his third DNF of the season at the 2019 Canadian Grand Prix, equalling Daniel Ricciardo as the driver with the most non-finishes at that point in the year.
France: Qualifying in fifth for the 2019 French Grand Prix, Lando Norris secured McLaren’s best qualifying position since Jenson Button qualified in the same position for the 2016 Austrian Grand Prix.
Austria: At the 2019 Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris became the first McLaren driver to reach Q3 at the Red Bull Ring since Jenson Button in 2016. With both Norris and team-mate Carlos Sainz scoring, 2019 marks the first time both McLaren drivers have finished in the points in Austria since 2003.
Britain: For the third season in a row, a McLaren driver finished in eleventh place at the 2019 British Grand Prix. Lando Norris finished just outside the points, just as Stoffel Vandoorne did in both 2017 and 2018. The only other McLaren driver to have finished eleventh at Silverstone is Gilles Villeneuve, who finished eleventh at the track in 1977.
Germany: Lando Norris recorded the first Q1 elimination of his career at the 2019 German Grand Prix. That means every driver on the 2019 grid has now recorded at least one Q1 exit during their career.
Hungary: Qualifying in seventh for the 2019 Hungarian Grand Prix, Lando Norris joined Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Brendon Hartley and Ralf Schumacher as the fifth driver to have a 100% Q3 appearance rate at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Belgium: Neither Carlos Sainz nor Lando Norris finished the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix. This was, therefore, the first race in which McLaren have recorded a double DNF since the 2017 Italian Grand Prix. Norris was running well, but stopped just before the finish line and was eventually classified only eleventh.
Italy: At the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, Lando Norris finished tenth, picking up the team’s first point at the track since 2014.
Singapore: Lando Norris made 2019 the fourth consecutive season that a McLaren driver has finished seventh in Singapore. McLaren recorded the same result as they did at the 2018 Singapore Grand Prix, with one driver finishing seventh and the other finishing twelfth.
Russia: Lando Norris’ eighth place in the 2019 Russian Grand Prix ensured that McLaren surpassed 100 points in the Constructors’ Championship for the first time since 2014.
Japan: Lando Norris ended a three race run of points finishes by finishing eleventh in the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix.
Mexico: At the 2019 Mexico Grand Prix, Lando Norris failed to finish. It was his sixth and final retirement of the season. Only Romain Grosjean had more retirements over the year than Norris.
United States: Lando Norris set the fastest time in an F1 session for the first time in his career during Q1 at the 2019 United States Grand Prix. It was the first time McLaren have been fastest in a qualifying session since Fernando Alonso was fastest in Q1 at the 2017 British Grand Prix.
Brazil: Lando Norris’ eighth place in the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, in addition to his team-mate’s podium finish, made this the first time both McLaren drivers have scored in Brazil since 2014.
Abu Dhabi: With eighth place in the 2019 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, this marked the first time in his career that Lando Norris has finished in the same position at two consecutive races.
