Lando Norris admitted after qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix that he “completely destroyed” the floor of his MCL60, following a scary off in Q1.
Following a rain shower ahead of qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps, the historic circuit was wet.
This caught several drivers out as they attempted to push, including Norris.
The 23-year-old went off at Stavelot and darted through the gravel at high-speed, before his race engineer informed him that he may have front wing damage.
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After returning to the pits, it was discovered that Norris had actually severely damaged his floor, something which made progressing to Q2 and then to Q3 incredibly difficult.
He nevertheless made it to the final part of qualifying, where he salvaged seventh on the grid for Sunday’s race.
Norris was relieved to have made it into the top 10 given his off in Q1.
“I went off in Q1 and completely destroyed the floor, so I’m happy to have made it to Q3 and only be a couple of tenths off what Oscar did,” Norris told Sky Sports F1.
“I think he did a good job. His middle sector was very strong. We were very poor in the straights.
“There’s wins and losses, but I’m happy. It could have been a lot worse, I could have been out in Q1, so I’ll take P7.”
Norris was then asked just how much of his floor he damaged, to which he revealed that the entire thing had sustained damage.
“The whole thing. Normally, you can repair it [under parc ferme rules],” Norris revealed.
“Tape is not going to help. We tried to tape it. They did a good job on getting as much as they can fixed, but too much to be competitive today.
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“So, I don’t think we’re bad. I think if we had a car that was together, if I hadn’t made the mistake in Q1, we could have had maybe a slightly better day.
“We weren’t miles off the guys ahead, but I’m happy I got what I did out of it.”
The British driver ended up qualifying one place behind rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri; however, Norris’ wounded MCL60 certainly hurt his pace.