Following a P3 grab at the quali, Lando Norris delivered a spectacular fight to ‘pole-sitter’ Verstappen at Montréal. Unfortunately, he lost his P1 spot to Max Verstappen because of a Safety Car intervention and McLaren’s ‘faulty’ strategies, which he hailed as ‘unlucky.’
Regarding all these, the Briton came out to put forward his reactions in the post-race sessions.
Lando Norris’ overview of his 2024 Canadian GP race
As the lights went out on Sunday night, Lando Norris started his run from P3 in the wet early stages. But, as the conditions improved, he lit out the timesheets to overhaul both ‘pole-sitter George Russell and reigning champion Verstappen for the lead. Excelling on Inters, he built a six-second lead over Max by lap 25, with Russell two seconds further back.
Later in the lap, Williams’ Logan Sargeant spun into the Turn 4 barriers, bringing out the Safety Car. Norris caught up with the SC immediately. Verstappen, Russell, and Piastri pitted for new intermediates. McLaren pitted Norris a lap later, but the delay cost him dearly as Max took the lead, followed by Russell. Ultimately, he came home second, via some wheel-to-wheel battling with the Mercedes driver.
Afterwards, in the post-race sessions, he sat down with the other two podium finishers for a quick debrief about the race. Quizzed on his ‘wild’ race, he started by saying:
“It was chaos. It was eventful. To be honest, I felt like I drove a good race, the whole time, from start to finish. The first two stints were very strong. I had an amazing pace.”
“But, then the Safety Car had me over. Just like it helped me in Miami, it’s now had me back over. So, honestly, I thought it was a pretty perfect race from my side. just a bit unlucky, but, that’s what it is.”
“But, it was good fun. These conditions, so stressful inside the car but very enjoyable at the same time.”
After a while, congratulating the Briton, a reported asked “A little frustrated not to win?“. Replying to this, he voiced that McLaren “should have won the race” if they didn’t “make the wrong call” during the SC delay. He explained,
“We didn’t do a good job, I think, a good enough job as a team to box when we should have done and not get stuck behind the Safety Car. So, I don’t think it was a luck or unlucky kind of thing. I don’t think it was the same as Miami. This was just making a wrong call. So, it’s on me and it’s on the team and it’s something we’ll discuss after.
“We should have won today. I think we’re at a level now where we’re not satisfied with a second, like the target is to win. And we didn’t do that. So, frustrating, but a tough race and still to end up in second when it could always finish and could be worse is still a good result.”
Norris on McLaren’s race strategy and decisions at Montréal
During the track interview, Martin Brundle asked: “As you say, earlier on the Safety Car picked you up, didn’t it, and just cost you that time into the pits, but you’re happy with how that all played out?”. Explaining, Norris quoted:
“The first stint I was in the lead by what 10 or 12 seconds, pulling away, probably two or three seconds a lap, so things were going beautifully, but, of course, it’s Montréal, so there’s always something that’s got to come into play.”
“But it’s good fun. I’m happy with the second, good points for the team. So a good weekend for us.”
While all his rivals were pitting for inters during the delay, McLaren opted to pit their #1 a lap later. Reflecting on this, he further added,
“We just didn’t do it. You wear the Intermediates out pretty quickly, so it was clear that as soon as it was. We were going to have to box for Inters anyway, disregarding the Safety Car. We wouldn’t have been able to stay out on the tyres that we were on.”
“Yeah, that was, I think, a normal decision. And the one at the end was not to do with a Safety Car. That was just boxing onto the slick tyre. And I don’t think there was necessarily a correct one. I think within one, two, three laps, probably was all fairly similar in terms of boxing on the slick. So, yeah, made it good to try and do something different to the others.”
The Briton’s analysis and reflections of his 2024 Canadian GP race
During the press conference, he also revealed that “staying out on the Intermediates” was “completely the right call and a good decision” from McLaren. But, he acknowledged that not boxing on time “was a mistake“. He explained:
“No, staying out on the Intermediate helped me. It helped me have a chance against George, so I over cut him. I didn’t do a good enough job afterwards, and he was clearly way quicker than us in the dry and even on the Hard tyres. So, no, that was completely the right call and a good decision from us to stay out. It gave me a lot of lap time.”
“And it’s not the timing of the first Safety Car. I had enough time to box, and we didn’t box. So, this was a mistake for us as a team. And yeah, just something we didn’t do a good enough job with.”
Asked if he felt like it was a race that got away, he added:
“That’s what it is. It helped me out in Miami. So, I’m not going to be the one to complain. It happens. That’s racing sometimes.”
“But, I drove a good race. The car’s been great all weekend. So, thanks to the team.”
“And we’re close. It’s nice to be so close once again and on the podium. So, we’ll keep fighting.”
Lando Norris briefs some specific moments during the Montréal race
During the press conference, another reported asked: “Did you think for a second that you might have had a chance to keep hold of that lead? Or were you always pretty sure that Max was going to sail past you?”. Answering this, he explained in detail:
“It takes a lap, two laps to warm up the tyres. So, yes, I over cut him and I over cut George, but you need a lap or two to warm up the tyres. So, you’re always going to have an over cut type of race in that situation because a cold slick is not going to be as good as, you know, the Inter at the end of the stint.”
“So, that didn’t gain me or lose me anything, the little slide. And it was completely wet on the slick tyre. So, it didn’t lose me or gain me anything.”
“But, we were too far behind Max in the first place. I probably pushed too late on that Inter tyre in the middle stint. It’s why we stayed out because I was so quick at the end of that stint, but I probably just didn’t push early enough.”
As for now, after yesterday’s race, he sits at P3 in the 2024 Driver Standings with 131 points. For his next endeavor, he’ll be travelling to Barcelona for the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix on July 23rd.