Lando Norris conceded that he “fucked up” after not lifting for a double-waved yellow flag during the Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris was on course for a second-place result in Qatar and place McLaren on the brink of its first constructors' championship in 26 years.
However, the Briton was issued a mammoth 10-second stop-go penalty after being deemed guilty of failing to slow for a double-waved yellow flag that was issued for debris along the start-finish straight.
It demoted Norris to the back of the field. However, the McLaren driver was able to climb back to 10th, with the fastest lap, to bring home two points for the squad amid its constructors' championship fight with Ferrari.
“I’m disappointed, of course,” Norris told media including RacingNews365.
“I've let the team down. The team gave me a great car today, easily the quickest out there and I fucked it up.
“I don't know what I did wrong. I'm not an idiot, if there's a yellow flag, I know I need to slow down.
“That’s rule number one you learn in go-karts. For some reason, I didn't do that today because I've not seen it, or I've missed it or something.
“So I have to take it on the chin. They think I've done something wrong so I must have done something wrong and I can only apologise for the rest of the year to the team.”
The gap between McLaren and Ferrari now sits at 21 points in the former's favour.
Despite ensuring he did not leave Qatar empty-handed, Norris took little joy from the two points collected.
“We were quick, I did the best I could,” he said. “But I’m disappointed to only get two points with the quickest car out there today.”
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