The British driver ran into the gravel while following the Safety Car after being caught out by cars ahead slowing suddenly. The moment dropped him to 11th before he recovered two places by the chequered flag.
The race had already been disrupted by heavy rain, which delayed the start and led to mixed tyre strategies. Norris started on medium slick tyres from fifth on the grid but struggled in the changeable conditions and fell back. An early Safety Car for Valtteri Bottas allowed him to pit, but further drama followed later when George Russell retired on the main straight, causing the pack to bunch up.
“I swore a lot,” Norris admitted afterwards. “It’s just I couldn’t see from the angle and, from where I was, how much everyone had stopped because of George on the inside. So by the time I kind of looked at George and looked back, I could see them.
“But it’s hard when you’re directly behind to see if they’re going 100, 200, or 10, and they were going 10, so I just got completely caught out. I guess it’s my fault at the end of the day, so I was just unlucky with it. Everyone just checked up so much and I just got screwed over by it, that’s all.”
Norris was later given a reprimand by the stewards for driving erratically under Safety Car conditions. He also conceded that starting on the medium tyre had been the wrong decision, saying the intermediate had looked more convincing than it proved on the formation laps.
Team-mate Oscar Piastri finished sixth, while Norris’s recovery drive limited the damage on a difficult afternoon for McLaren.