Lando Norris lamented his luck after a poor performance at the Brazilian Grand Prix almost ended his slim F1 title ambitions.

After qualifying on pole position in Sunday morning’s rescheduled session, with title rival Max Verstappen starting the race 17th, the hope for Norris and McLaren was to close the gap at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

Instead, a brilliant performance from Verstappen in a wet race with several incidents ensured the Dutchman prevailed and took his first win in 10 grands prix races, while Norris shuffled his grid to finish sixth.

Norris’ race got off to an inauspicious start when he suffered a starting violation after leaving the finish line despite an aborted start, which will need to be investigated by the race stewards after the race.

When the race finally started, he lost the lead to George Russell and came into the pits for new intermediate tires just as a virtual safety car was coming to an end, losing places by just moments before the red flag was raised.

That meant Verstappen and Alpine duo Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly, who both finished on the podium, were given a free tire change before the restart – something that seemingly made Norris unhappy.

“It was the right time to box… it was the right thing to do. So no regrets, just bad luck,” he said.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38,

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

“It’s a silly rule that no one agrees with, but you’ll always agree with it if it benefits you, you know. So every driver has said they don’t agree with it and want a change.

“It’s just unfortunate, but it’s the rule. You win some things, you lose some things, that helped them today. So, well done to them.”

When asked about the aborted launch, Norris replied: “I’m not sure (what happened), I need to talk to the team.”

Verstappen can now claim his fourth world title next time out in Las Vegas and Norris admitted Red Bull were on a different planet due to the difficult conditions in Sao Paulo.

“I did everything I could today. That’s all. Max won the race. Well done, but it doesn’t change anything for me,” he added.

“Max was significantly faster than us and I think if he had started from the front he probably would have lapped us. The pace was good, I think similar to George, but the Red Bull was very fast today.

“It was definitely a weekend with ups and downs. I couldn’t do much more. I’m sure George probably feels like he won the race today, he deserves it more than anyone.

“Realistically I probably came third so it’s difficult. Max probably would have gotten through anyway and probably beat us, but yeah, it was just bad luck for us. Nothing more than that. I made a few mistakes that I admit and that cost me a few positions in the end, but that’s it.”

Photos from the GP qualifying and race in Brazil