Lando Norris says he 'deserved' the win before the VSC cost him victory at Madring
Lando Norris had barely climbed out of the car before he was being told what everyone in the paddock already suspected. He was asked to explain the VSC and how the win had slipped away. "The VSC came out after I was already around the last corner," Norris said, "so the others were very fortunate today. Or I was just unfortunate, whatever way around you want to look at it."
The mechanics of it were cruel in their simplicity. Norris had converted pole into control of the race from the first lap, holding off Kimi Antonelli at Turn 1 and building a comfortable lead, but when Lance Stroll ran off at Turn 20 on lap 15 the resulting Virtual Safety Car arrived just after Norris had already passed the pit entry.
Antonelli and Max Verstappen, running behind, ducked straight in and took what amounted to a free stop, estimated to have saved around 13 seconds on their tyre changes compared to a green-flag stop. Norris had to complete another full lap before pitting under racing conditions, and a slow stop compounded the damage, dropping him to fifth before he clawed his way back to third by the flag, unable to find a way past either car on a circuit that offered almost nowhere to overtake. Even Antonelli conceded the point afterwards, saying simply that Norris had got unlucky with the VSC.
Norris didn't dispute how good McLaren's weekend had otherwise been. "Of course, I believe I deserved today," he said. "I feel like we did a very good job. I gave, I feel like I did everything right this weekend. So for it to be lost like today, it's just pretty crappy because, you know, it's Formula One. The race should be won by the best performance and a good strategy, maybe going long and things like that.
"Today was just a rule that just benefits some people a lot more than other people. And I know that's racing, so I can't be too against it. But if it was the other way around, of course, it would have suited me. But, you know, I feel like I've driven a perfect weekend and I did such a good job yesterday and I feel like I did a great job today. It's just, it hurts. Yeah, but nothing I can do."
It's a frustration he has raised with race control before, and Madrid gave him fresh ammunition, framing the VSC as a rule that "shouldn't define a race" and floating fixes such as blocking the pit lane entirely during a VSC or extending the neutralisation by a lap to give everyone an equal opportunity to stop.
Pushed to find something to take from the weekend once the sting had faded, Norris didn't need long to answer. "I mean, it's only positives this weekend," he said. "I mean, apart from I don't think we were quick enough all weekend until today. I think today we were the best. As you've seen quite often on Sundays, we take a good step on Saturdays. We're just not where we need to be. So we need to understand what we can do more on a Saturday.
"Honestly, I still don't think we have the car that's, you know, perfect enough condition to fight consistently against the others on Saturday. But it seems like on Sunday, the way I drive, the way I can look after the tires, the way I can get lap time out of it is giving me a lot of opportunities and I can do a better job than the others. So the only thing, and that's what's frustrating, there's only positives I can take away from this weekend. There's only things we can work on, but we're just very lucky."
It leaves Norris fourth in the standings behind Antonelli, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, a result that should have been a win reduced instead to another instalment in his season-long argument with Formula 1's safety car rules.
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