‘He should try braking earlier’ – Norris reacts to de Vries contact

Lando Norris has suggested that Nyck de Vries should “try braking a bit earlier” going forward following their contact at the Miami Grand Prix.

The duo came together on the run into the first corner, when de Vries locked up and bumped into the rear of the McLaren driver.

Soon after, Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri, came into the pit lane to change onto a new set of tyres having started on the Softs.

Norris said that McLaren was “doing what we thought was best” by starting on the softest compound.

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Following his pit stop, Norris endured a difficult race as McLaren lacked the pace to compete in the midfield pack, with the Briton crossing the line in 17th.

Reflecting on the opening lap contact with de Vries, Norris said: “He’s done that a bit lately. He should try braking a bit earlier.”

Although Norris says he suffered damage in the incident, he says it wasn’t the reason behind his lack of pace.

“It didn’t change my day, I don’t know how much damage there was,” he said. 

“There was definitely a little bit, but our lack of pace wasn’t because of that. We were just very slow today.”

Norris has suggested that there were multiple reasons behind McLaren’s lack of pace on Sunday, while also highlighting that some of the team’s midfield rivals were on form in comparison.

“[There are] different reasons, the track doesn’t suit us, longer corners don’t suit us, the temperatures don’t suit us,” he said. 

“The track surface doesn’t suit us. There are many different aspects to it all. I’ve said, no one was slow either this weekend. Maybe the AlphaTauris were the only other slow car. 

“Everyone else was pretty quick, the Alfa Romeos were mega fast, Haas was mega fast. Alpine was way quicker. I wouldn’t say we were that much different to where we have been. 

“Just everyone else took a big step forward. A lot of it is down to car characteristics in my opinion. Same as what I’ve been saying the whole time.”

Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri crossed the line in 19th, one lap down on race-winner Max Verstappen.