Verstappen won again in Barcelona, but the consensus across the paddock is that Lando Norris had the best car. After starting from Pole Position, the McLaren driver lost out to Russell and Verstappen into Turn 1, costing him a second victory of the season.
Norris has overtaken Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ standings, but the gap to Max Verstappen has grown to 69 points after ten rounds. The 23-year-old spoke candidly post-race, explaining that fighting for the Championship must be the aim with his car. Still, the consistency of the Verstappen-Red Bull duo is making the difference at this stage. This made the difference against Ferrari in 2022 and is again proving pivotal in 2024.
NORRIS: “THE STRATEGY WAS PERFECT, I LOST THE RACE AT THE START”
Despite using a different strategy than Verstappen, Norris does not believe this cost him the race: “I lost the race at the start. The strategy was fantastic.”
Norris also indirectly responded to Verstappen’s claims that Red Bull weren’t the fastest:
“Today we had the best car, yesterday we didn’t. In Qualifying, I don’t think we had the best car. We were close, but I think Red Bull had something better.”
The Spanish GP, much like Canada, represents another missed opportunity. If Norris had claimed victory in Spain, he would be 14 points closer to Verstappen and the Championship would look very different.
Within a few laps, Verstappen capitalised on his opportunity and passed Russell. Norris, meanwhile, could not overtake his fellow British driver.
“At the beginning of the stint, you can overtake easily. But after the first laps, the tyres overheat... Then, at the end of the stint, you can try again.”
Norris showed clear regret for missing out on a great opportunity:
“I don’t know if the weekend was positive. It was a good weekend, but not enough. We are fighting for the Championship and for victories and I didn’t win when we should have done so.
“It was an opportunity to seize the victory, but here I didn’t do it, and I can’t be happy.”
The Englishman’s eyes remained focused on the gap with Verstappen:
“I’m not interested in second place in the Championship. I’m interested in the gap with Max, and he increased it after today. Today, we should have won, and these are the opportunities we cannot waste.”
Over the course of the weekend, only one McLaren showed itself to be competitive: Oscar Piastri was at his teammate’s level for a few laps over the three days after some positive stages between Imola and Canada for the Australian driver.
“The whole weekend was very difficult, starting from the first lap. I have to analyze everything and understand the reason for these difficulties.”
Piastri’s best lap in Qualifying was a 1:12.011, very far from his teammate’s Pole time of a 1:11.383. Even on race day, he could not match his teammate’s efforts.
“There were some laps encouraging here and there, but I’m happy to finish the weekend. The car was a lot more inconsistent than usual
“The potential of the car is clearly there, but I haven’t been able to unlock it.”