Norris 'lucky' to fight back to Qatar Sprint podium

Lando Norris believes he was "lucky" to fight back to his podium during the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint race.

The McLaren driver started on the Medium tyre while those around him were on the Soft, including George Russell and both Ferrari drivers.

While Norris was briefly demoted to sixth after the first few laps, those who started on the Soft started to see their pace drop off towards the end.

The McLaren driver made use of the final Safety Car to pass both Ferrari's and George Russell in the final laps, ultimately finishing on the podium.

"We knew from the beginning we could [fight back], especially with them [Mercedes] on the Softs. It's a lot better on lap one during the opening stages of the race," Norris told media.

"But we've been lucky there were so many Safety Cars, if there weren't so many Safety Cars then the Medium would have easy been the better choice."

Norris: I made mistakes, Oscar hasn't

Norris made a blunt assessment of his performance so far during the weekend, having had his lap time deleted and missing out on pole in both qualifying sessions.

He believes teammate Piastri has put together a more consistent weekend, which has enabled him to take his first win in F1.

"Oscar did a mega job, he's done enough [to win] this weekend. I made all the mistakes and he hasn't," said Norris.

"I had a bad start making everything much trickier, but we fought back well and had some fun racing.

"Good overtakes all the way until the last lap on George [Russell], so a podium for us and for a team it's been a mega day."