I could sense the pain and disappointment in every answer, every gesture, every word.
Lando Norris believed he was within striking distance of a second Formula One victory on Sunday in Barcelona, but it slipped away.
Norris started Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix in first place thanks to a brilliant final lap in Saturday’s qualifying session, fast enough to snatch pole position from friend and rival Max Verstappen, a lap that Norris himself described as “flawless” and “all-out”.
But in Sunday’s race, his small lead over Verstappen evaporated in an instant as the Red Bull driver got off to a faster start and Norris quickly dropped back to second place. Norris then lost another spot soon after as George Russell completed a stunning double overtake by both Norris and Verstappen, dropping Norris to third.
The McLaren driver was forced to switch into comeback mode and nearly did so, closing an eight-second gap to first-placed Verstappen to less than two seconds by the time the chequered flag waved. But the story he told on Sunday afternoon in Barcelona was that of a driver who believes he has let his team down.
“The race wasn’t good enough because I should have won today,” Norris said. Post-race FIA press conference.
“I think we had the fastest car, but we lost some speed at the start and I couldn’t get past George in the first stint. I think we had the best car by far today.” Norris continued.“I didn’t do a good enough job at the start and that one thing cost me everything. So I think from turn two onwards I gave it a 10 out of 10, I couldn’t have done more. I think as a team we had the perfect strategy and I’m very happy with what we did, but the start, the other 1% wasn’t good enough.”
Norris faced one of the toughest challenges on the F1 calendar, as the distance from the start/finish line to Turn 1 at Barcelona is the longest any driver will face all year, meaning Verstappen was in a position to make a big splash from the start into Turn 1, and Norris was tasked with fending off the champion.
As Norris described his start, he had a good initial start but things didn’t go so well in the “second phase” of the race.
“No, I think I had a better start than Max. The second stage, the drive out wasn’t as good. I don’t know, I don’t know any more than that, other than that Max was alongside me,” Norris explained. “And I think if George hadn’t been there I would still have had first place going into Turn 1.
“But George was ahead of both of us, so even if I started off a point or two [meters] That was probably all I could do. The long run into Turn 1, the slipstream of the Mercedes on both Max and me, was all I could do. Even if I had started second, I think George would have been in the lead no matter what. [meters] Better.
“In a way, that’s what happens in Barcelona. George had a good start but I couldn’t do anything about it. I kept calm. I should have been third at Turn 2 because I think if I had braked two metres late I would have dragged everyone along. I made the right decision to back off and let George take it. I don’t know. I need to sit down with the engineers and talk about it.”
Norris’s struggles echoed comments he made after finishing second to Verstappen in Montreal, except this time, the driver said, he really was in the quickest car.
But there was no corresponding victory.
“In Montreal, we weren’t the fastest car. Mercedes was obviously the fastest. But today we were the fastest. We had the best car. I had the best car,” Norris said. “And I [maximize] “That didn’t happen. It’s up to me to start, do what I’m told and execute it. Even if that didn’t happen, with a good start we could have won easily.”
Despite being bitter about his result and knowing he missed out on a win on Sunday, Norris turned his attention to Austria, a track where he has performed well in the past.
“I’m confident. The car is performing extremely well now every weekend. We’re always within two tenths of pole and that’s all we want,” Norris concluded. “I think we just need to bring something a little bit more to make our lives a little bit easier. It’s close, and now we have four teams that can fight for pole position and the win, so again the layout is quite different. I think we need to work a little bit on the high speed compared to Red Bull. Red Bull are obviously a little bit higher than us and seem to have better high-speed corners. We’re potentially missing a touch there, but we’re strong elsewhere.
“This is one of the best tracks in terms of my competitiveness and the track where I’ve had the most success, so I’m looking forward to seeing the papaya, the grandstands and having a good weekend.”
Norris may be feeling devastated right now, lamenting his lack of victory, but his second-place finish means he now overtakes Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc into second in the Drivers’ Championship.
It may not be enough to ease the pain he felt on Sunday, but it’s certainly progress for Norris.
And this driver’s struggles perhaps tell a bigger story about the 2024 F1 season. A year ago, finishing within two seconds of Verstappen was something to celebrate. Consider what Norris said after finishing second to Verstappen at the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix, nearly 20 seconds off the Red Bull driver’s pace.
“No, I thought he’d be two or three laps behind! But that didn’t happen… I mean, I expected a bigger gap. I think the whole team thought that. I think it was closer, because I was about eight or ten seconds behind Perez. [Virtual Safety Car]” Norris said at the FIA press conference at Suzuka last season.
“I don’t know how hard Max actually tried, I’m sure he could have gone a bit faster if he wanted,” Norris added in Japan last year, “but he couldn’t make a free pit stop because he was only 19 seconds behind. So that’s great, and yeah, I think it’s a sign of our progress.”
What was a huge gap a year ago is now down to a matter of seconds, and as Will Buxton so eloquently stated a few weeks ago, drivers now just want to get one or two more laps in, rather than wanting another car to challenge Verstappen. The field behind Verstappen is shrinking.
And Norris, personal woes aside, is now at the front of the chasing pack.
