Lando Norris says the issue that slowed his McLaren MCL34 during the final stages of the French Grand Prix made the car “quite unpredictable.”
Norris, who qualified fifth, preserved seventh for much of the race but suffered a hydraulic problem with around 20 of the 53 laps remaining.
Norris held on to seventh until the final lap but dropped to the foot of the top 10 as he was overhauled by both Renault drivers and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen.
The McLaren driver nonetheless moved up to ninth post-race as Daniel Ricciardo was penalised for transgressing during the final lap battles.
“We had a hydraulic problem about 20 laps from the end which was getting worse and worse,” said Norris.
“The car was getting very difficult to drive, quite unpredictable. It was really inconsistent upshifts, downshifts were terrible.
“The power steering started to go, something with the traction and the diff started to go.
“A whole load of problems which weren't very nice to have, and in the end cost us P7.
“In the end, it's frustrating because it would have been nice to have P6 and P7 for us as a team because I think we deserved it this weekend.”
Norris was nonetheless satisfied with his performance through most of the race, despite ceding a position on the opening lap to Sainz Jr.
“I lost one position off the line which is my… not error, I was just not in the best position compared to what Carlos was on the outside, so I couldn't have got there no matter what I tried to do,” he said.
“So the whole day went very well, apart from the end and the problems we had, I did everything, I thought my pace was very good throughout the whole race, I was within two seconds or whatever the gap was to Carlos the whole race.
“There was no point risking closing up and destroying my tyres. There was a fairly long stint that you do on the Hards.”
