Lando Norris says he’s played it safe on the first lap of races so far this year but may become more aggressive in future.

The McLaren driver has lost more places on the first lap of races than any other driver so far this season . He has given away a total of 19 spots over the first eight rounds.

Norris, who is in his first season of Formula 1, admits he’s been playing it safe at the start so far. “At this point of the season I’d rather finish the race than anything else,” he said.

At the start of the last race at Paul Ricard, Norris lost a position to team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr. He said he didn’t want to risk a collision with his team mate.

“My start was pretty good in Paul Ricard,” said Norris. “Better than the Red Bull, better than both of the Ferraris ahead of me.

“So was Carlos’s start. Carlos had a slightly better position going into turn one going into turn one. I kind of got him back around turn two and I was on the outside in turn two of Carlos. It’s kind of risk versus reward. I trust Carlos 100 percent [but] I don’t know what would have happened.

“It can easily go wrong by me just trying to gain one or two more points. If I have to and we need every little point, we’re on the limit of doing something, then I can quite happily take the risk but it’s a risk.”

Norris is set to start today’s race from fifth on the grid, as he did in France. Although he said he may take more risks in future, scoring points remains his priority.

“A little bit is always going into turn one not knowing how much grip you have,” he said. “[It’s] very easy to lock up. People with however many years of experience, such as Paul Ricard last year, you can go into turn one and do stupid stuff and mess it all up.

“Maybe later in the season I’ll pick it up a little bit. But it’s not so much I’m terrible, it’s more I want to finish the race and learn more things from than than trying something silly, damage my floor, damage my wing and do something which there’s no point of doing.”

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2019 F1 season