McLaren Driver, Lando Norris, does not think he “lost out in the race” after finishing second, behind his teammate, Oscar Piastri, at the Spanish GP.
Despite finishing second, Lando Norris does not think he “lost out in the race” during the Spanish GP. At the start of the race, Norris had to fight for second after Verstappen took P2 at Turn 1 of the race. However, the Briton “knew our pace was going to be strong” to give McLaren a one-two finish.
He was happy with today’s team performance, even if the top step proved to be out of reach. When asked about his key moments in the Spanish GP post-race press conference, Norris answered, “To finish second? I’m not sure. I mean, obviously, I got past Max quite quickly…”
What happened at Turn 1?
Norris started second at the Spanish GP, but once the race started, the McLaren Driver was side-by-side with George Russell and Max Verstappen. When asked about this moment, the 25-year-old answered, “Were we? Yeah? You know. I don’t. I don’t remember.”
The Briton continued, “I just remember the lights going up pretty quickly, and obviously I was a little bit caught out by that. So, yeah. And then I just couldn’t get a slipstream.
“Oscar didn’t give me a slipstream down to Turn 1, and then, you know, it was hard to commit into the braking of 1 and Max got past. So it was a long race. I think we knew our pace was going to be strong, so I didn’t need to do anything too risky into Turn 1.“
Happy ending for the team
The Spanish GP ended with Norris complementing his teammate saying “Oscar drove a very good race today and had a good day yesterday“. Norris leaves Barcelona satisfied with the pace he had with his MCL39.
“But, yeah, I don’t think I lost out in the race. I think Oscar drove a very good race today and had a good day yesterday. And, yeah, I had the pace to go with him, but not enough to try and catch up and put him under threat.”
The result in Spain has increased the deficit to Piastri to 10 points ahead of the Canadian GP in two weeks time.
