Lando Norris to take Belgian GP grid penalty ‘on the chin’ as troubles continue

By Philip Duncan, Press Association F1 Correspondent, Francorchamps

Lando Norris has vowed to take the latest setback in his world championship defence on the “chin” after he was served a 10-place penalty for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix.

Norris is already 82 points off the title pace after suffering two retirements, and even failing to start one of the nine rounds which have been blighted by reliability failures.

The Englishman will now start Sunday’s 44-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps way down the order following a grid sanction for exceeding the number of permitted engine parts on his McLaren.

Norris will take on his fourth battery this weekend which is one more than is allowed. McLaren hope the circuit here in the Ardennes will provide him with greater opportunities to fight back through the field than at next weekend’s concluding race before the summer break in Hungary, or the ensuing round in Zandvoort on August 23.

Norris said: “We will have to wait and see how the overtaking is.

“Comparing to some of our competitors further back in the field, we will probably have a small straight-line speed advantage so we should have a good chance, but to overtake in general could be quite difficult.

“We know it’s better to take the penalty here than in Hungary or Zandvoort. I hope it’s not the end of my weekend before it starts. I’m still confident we can have a good weekend.

“But it won’t be made easier by the grid penalty. We have been unlucky so far in losing different bits, the engine, the power unit or the controls.

“And I’m on the backfoot in terms of a spare parts point of view (for the rest of the season) but that is out of my hands. That’s life, and you’ve got to take it on the chin.”

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The identity of Norris’ McLaren team-mate next year and beyond has been placed in some doubt, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen mooted as a replacement for Oscar Piastri.

Four-time world champion Verstappen’s future remains uncertain, with Red Bull failing to deliver him a car that can challenge at the sharp end of the grid. His representatives are exploring Verstappen’s options.

Verstappen crashed out of the last round in Silverstone from third place with a rear-wing failure. He is seventh in the standings, 103 points adrift of championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Verstappen has a break clause in his contract which allows him to leave Red Bull if he is outside of the top two in the championship at the summer break.

The Dutchman, 28, was asked here if he plans to be at Red Bull next year.

“I don’t want to go here and say yes and no, and this and that, about my future,” he replied.

“I’ve said already many times that if there was something new, I would say it myself.

“We’re just looking to the future, trying to fix the current issues that we have on the car, but that’s a very open discussion.

“Sometimes you get a little bit disappointed or upset after a race but, for example, after Silverstone you go home, you reset. On Wednesday, I was back at the factory and then you prepare again.”