Norris urges Pirelli to “make the tyres better” after ‘dangerous’ punctures

Norris, Valtteri Bottas, George Russell and Nicholas Latifi all had their races severely compromised by front-left punctures during the inaugural F1 race at the Losail International Circuit.

Norris was running an impressive fourth in Qatar before McLaren called him in for a surprise pit stop on Lap 49.

The hard tyres he was running on were only 24 laps old when he suffered the puncture.

The McLaren driver was asked what caused his unexpected puncture, Norris replied: “It is obvious what it is, but I just cannot say it.”

Norris said that all four drivers affected were fortunate to avoid the barriers.

“No, it just should not happen,” he said. “If there was a wall there it could’ve been much more dangerous.

“They should make the tyres better. It is dangerous for us as drivers. We risk a lot every time. If we cannot drive a Formula 1 car around the circuit, then what should we do. I did 20 laps, not a very long stint. 20 or 25 laps or whatever, I should be able to still drive around the circuit.”

Like Bottas, Norris revealed that the puncture occurred suddenly with no warning.

“No, It just might all of a sudden at Turn 14, Turn 13, so nothing,” he added.

“Tyre wear, but I didn’t expect the tyre to blow up. Especially not on the hard tyre. We were not that far into the stint, it was like 20 laps or something, and they should be able to go more than 20 laps.

“At every track you look after the tyres because the tyres wear out a bit, but you do not expect it to suddenly let go completely. Quite dangerous for a lot of people today, and that shouldn’t happen.”

Pirelli has confirmed it will conduct an investigation into the cause of the punctures.