After a good performance that secured him a second-place finish, Lando Norris shared his thoughts on the Spanish Grand Prix, highlighting both the successes and missed opportunities that marked his journey to the podium.
“The race, not good enough, simply because we should have won today,” Norris stated bluntly.
“I think we had the quickest car. But I just lost it at the start, and then I couldn’t get past George [Russell] for the first stint. So, I think we quite easily had the best car out there today. I just didn’t do a good enough job off the line, and then that one thing cost me everything. From turn two onwards, 10 out of 10, I don’t think I could have done much more.”
Norris elaborated on the start, explaining what went wrong. He lost out to Russell and Verstappen at turn 1 as he dropped to P3.
“My initial launch, I think, was better than Max’s [Verstappen]. The second phase, the drive out, it was not as good. Max got alongside me, and if George wasn’t there, I think I could have kept first around turn one. But George had a run on both of us. Even if my start was one or two metres better, the slipstream from the Mercedes on both Max and myself was more than I could have done.”
Reflecting on his decision to back out of it to avoid contact with Russell in turn 1 as he swept around the outside, Norris said: “I made the correct decision of backing out and letting George have it. I need to sit down with my engineers and talk more about it.
“For sure, because that was more an incorrect decision or a lack of decision making.”
When asked about his frustrations following the race, Norris didn’t hold back.
McLaren extended the first and second stints, with Norris using his fresher tyres to pass Sainz, Hamilton and Russell to finish P2, 2s behind Verstappen.
“We were definitely not the quickest car in Montreal; Mercedes was. But today, we had the best car. I had the best car out there, and I didn’t maximise it. The start is down to me and doing what I get told and executing that. With a good start, we easily should have won.”
Norris also detailed his intense battle with George Russell. They went side-by-side through turns 3, 4 and 5, with the McLaren driver eventually coming out on top.
“I made George defend turn one, which kind of won me everything from that point onwards. He defended into one, then I got the cut back.
“Once you defend, you can easily get a cut back onto the following corner. I had him on the outside of three. I was quite surprised in turn four, but I had so much understeer in turn four all day. The Mercs had a lot of front-end in turn four, so he could carry a lot more speed.
“It was a good fight. It cost me a little lap time and hurt my gap to Max in the end, but it was pleasant. It was on the edge, it was close, but respectful.”
Looking ahead to the next race in Austria, Norris expressed confidence in fighting for a win at a track he has been exceptionally strong at throughout his career, including getting his first podium in F1 in 2020.
“I’m confident every weekend we go into now. The car is performing extremely well. We’re always there or thereabouts within a couple of tenths of pole.
“I think we need to bring something a little bit more just to make our life a bit easier. But it’s close. Now we have, what, four teams who can easily fight for pole positions and potentially for wins.
“It’s been one of my best tracks in terms of my own competitiveness and my most successful tracks. So, excited to see all the papaya in the grandstands and have a good weekend.”
