Norris gets Belgian GP grid drop due to Spa F1 crash damage

The McLaren driver lost control of his car in wet conditions on his first lap of Q3 and speared into the barriers at Eau Rouge-Raidillon, an incident which brought out a red flag and caused a heavy delay to qualifying.

Norris has been declared fit to race after an x-ray on his elbow during a precautionary hospital visit confirmed he escaped injury.

Having failed to set a lap time, the Briton was classified 10th but would have started from ninth once Valtteri Bottas’ grid penalty was applied. As a result of his gearbox change, Norris will subsequently drop to 14th.

McLaren has not been been required to change Norris' chassis, nor has it decided to fit new power unit elements. 

Speaking on his return to the Spa paddock on Saturday evening, Norris said he felt he could have “easily fought for pole” after topping both Q1 and Q2.

“Everything was going extremely well,” he explained. “Since the first lap in Q1 things were going perfectly, and the car was feeling hooked up, I felt confident with the car.

“I guess it was tricky going out in Q3 because even on the out lap, I was saying how wet it was and saying it should be should be stopped or something, because I was aquaplaning quite a bit.

“So it was just a difficult situation to be in: how much do you want to push, how much do you not? I think it's combination of pushing a bit too much for the weather at that point, aquaplaning a little bit in the middle of Eau Rouge, which obviously doesn't end too well, and ends up being the way it was in the end.

“Of course, I feel bad because things were going very well, the car was on fire, and Q1 and Q2 were extremely good. I think I could have quite easily fought for pole position.

“I've now given the team a lot of work to do and probably a very late night, but not a lot I can do now.”