THE Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Italy is becoming a happy hunting ground for Lando Norris, who scored his first podium of the season at the Imola circuit yesterday.
Norris, who grew up in Glastonbury, finished in third place in yesterday's Grand Prix to stand on the Imola podium for the second year running after Ferrari's Charles Leclerc made a late error.
His weekend got off to a flying start on Friday afternoon, when he secured fourth place for Saturday's sprint race in a qualifying session that saw mixed weather conditions and five red flags.
The last of those red flags was caused by Norris, who tapped the wall at Acque Minerale after losing traction and sliding through the gravel trap.
Despite this incident, he lined up in third position for Saturday's sprint but finished the 21-lap race in fifth after losing places to Red Bull's Sergio Pérez and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
Sainz - a former teammate of Norris - went out of Sunday's race on the first lap after making contact with Daniel Ricciardo in the other McLaren.
After a short safety car period while Sainz's stricken Ferrari was removed from the gravel, Norris had a rather lonely afternoon behind Max Verstappen, Pérez, and Leclerc.
That is, until championship leader Leclerc lost control of his car at the Variante Alta chicane after he tried to carry too much speed into the corner in his pursuit of Pérez.
That dropped Leclerc down to ninth and handed Norris the final spot on the podium.
The Monégasque driver recovered to finish in sixth but saw his championship lead over Verstappen fall from 45 points to 27.
Speaking about his P3 finish, Norris told McLaren's official website: “We certainly didn’t expect that coming into this weekend, so I’m happy to be leaving with a podium.
“It’s been a tricky weekend, but the team recovered well to put me in a good position for today’s race.
“I had a good start and was managing my tyres to the end. At that point we were on for a P4, which would still have been a great result.
“We got a bit lucky with the issues ahead, but we did what we needed to do to be in a position to take that opportunity.”
Norris's teammate Ricciardo sustained car damage in his first-lap incident with Sainz and could only finish in 18th as the last of the drivers to complete the full race distance.
The Australian driver said: “It was a great result for Lando! However, it was one of those Sundays for me, unfortunately.
“At turn one, I thought I got hit but it was actually me getting on the kerb. I then slipped off it and went into Carlos (Sainz), before being bumped by Bottas.
“We had a bit of damage and struggled for the rest of the race. It’s a painful one and it’s never nice to be involved in incidents.”
The result leaves Norris in sixth in the drivers' world championship with 35 points, while McLaren sit in fourth in the constructors' standings after four races.
Team principal Andreas Seidl said Norris “drove a great race” and “put himself in the best position to take advantage of any opportunity that came his way”.
P3... AGAIN! 🙌🏆 @LandoNorris is on the podium at Imola for a second year running!#ImolaGP 🇮🇹 pic.twitter.com/00CKq7sB4I
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) April 24, 2022
He added: “The performance we saw this weekend on a different track and in a variety of conditions confirms the potential of the MCL36 that we have been unlocking race-by-race.
“That said, we remain realistic about the work we have to do to close the gap to the front of the field.”
F1 will host the Miami Grand Prix near the Hard Rock Stadium, home of the Miami Dolphins NFL team, on Sunday, May 8.
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