Lando Norris says overheating at the rear of his McLaren led to the strange retirement during the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Briton was enjoying a strong start to the race, including a tit-for-tat duel with Max Verstappen on the back straight but was later seen limping down the pit straight with an apparent right-rear suspension failure.
While initially bearing all the hallmarks of a tap against one of Montreal’s infamous walls, a fire was seen in the brake system.
“I had a problem with overheating at the back of the car which led to my retirement,” Norris confirmed.
“I have no clue what happened and until the team have looked at it in detail we don’t know for sure. I didn’t hit a wall or anything, so I’ve no idea.
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“It’s annoying because until then it had been a fun race, battling with Max in the opening laps.
“There was good potential to maybe get some points so it’s especially frustrating, but these things happen, so it’s a case of now looking ahead to Paul Ricard.”
The Circuit Gilles Villeneuve is notoriously hard on brakes with his teammate Carlos Sainz having to pit early for a similar overheating issue.
But the issues meant McLaren’s strong qualifying performance came to nothing as the team left North America empty-handed though still remain fourth in the Constructors’ standings.