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Norris tagged the inside concrete wall through the final corner of the Jeddah street circuit to sustain a broken steering arm that forced him to pit for repairs after only one flying lap.
The team battled to repair the car in time for Norris during the opening 18-minute segment but narrowly missed the window to leave the Briton to start from 19th place.
Norris explained the error away as “just a misjudgement”, adding that it was “a mistake that I shouldn’t make” through the comparatively open left-hander.
He continued: “It’s probably one of the easiest corners on the track, in terms of judgement. I just got it wrong. Simple as that. No excuses.”
Norris said the outcome was particularly frustrating given the underlying pace of the MCL60, which enabled rookie team-mate Oscar Piastri to progress into Q3 a …