Norris F1 Dutch GP DNF was caused by small part failure

[John S]

Oil Line failure to blame for Lando's woe.

Margins in F1 are dominated by making parts as light as functionally possible without losing their integrity, sometimes you only find destruction point in really harsh conditions in a race.

'For the want of a nail' should remain the motto of all F1 win or title failures from mischief mechanical gremlins. 

In the closing stages at Zandvoort, Norris was forced to retire from his chase of team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri when he ground to a halt with what looked to be an engine failure, with smoke seen billowing from the car.

However, further investigations by McLaren have proved the issue was not an engine failure from Mercedes' side, but rather a McLaren problem with an engine oil line failing, triggering an oil leak.

On-board sensors then shut down the engine automatically to prevent further damage, with the DNF leaving Norris 34 points behind Piastri in the standings, instead of the 16 it would have been had he finished second to the Australian's sister MCL39.

"There are a lot of insanely complicated things that have to come together, and the diagnosis of what happened is pretty easy", Lando confesses.

"It's a part that's broken, and they look at it and go: 'Yeah, that's broken', but the understanding of how to fix it [is important].

"They've made the same part, but stronger; it is the same thing, but Formula 1 is about making things lighter and stronger, so there is probably a very, very small weight penalty that comes with this part".

"It is a pretty small part, and something which costs only a little bit to make".

above paras courtesy Racing365.com, today.