Lando Norris admitted McLaren was “fighting a losing battle” against Ferrari in Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka once he overcooked his tyres in the first stint.
Heading into the weekend, McLaren was optimistic given it scored a double podium at Suzuka last term and its car has retained the high-speed strengths of its predecessor.
A repeat for Norris looked to be on the cards as he lined up third on the grid, but the Briton was unable to retain pace with the Ferrari drivers and succumbed to fifth place.
Ferrari had strong race management on its side at Suzuka, executing a one-stop with Charles Leclerc and an overcut with two-stopping Carlos Sainz during the final stint.
However, Norris admits that McLaren expected to drop behind Ferrari and instead took encouragement with its small deficit to the Italian marque under race conditions.
“I don’t think Ferrari’s race pace was anything incredible,” he said. “I don’t think it’s as good as what Red Bull thought it was going to be or what they said yesterday.
“But yeah, it all started in the beginning when you’re trying to push to keep up with a quicker car or push to stay ahead of the Ferraris which were quicker.
“You hurt the tyres more and it’s just kind of like a bit of a spiral, fighting a losing battle out there.
“So, not a bad day. We are where we kind of expected to be in the end, which is behind Ferrari. It’s where we’ve been all year.
“I think yesterday we just excelled. I put in some very strong laps and made us look maybe a bit too good. Today was a bit more back to reality, so yeah, that’s all.”
Whereas Ferrari went bold with strategy, McLaren potentially was too cautious, at least that was the opinion Norris held over team radio when he was called in for his second stop.
Norris executed an undercut on Sergio Perez during the first stops but found himself nose-to-tail with Leclerc when the call came for pit stop number two.
The Ferrari pitted with Norris, coming out ahead for the final stint, before both were passed by Sainz.
“I think we did what was best at the time, but it’s always hard to know,” Norris reflected post-race, having previously questioned the timing of his second stop.
“Maybe we didn’t expect Charles to box? I’m not sure.
“He was close enough that you would kind of want to say, ‘Yeah, if we did something different, maybe we had a better chance’.
“I think we covered George [Russell], which I feel like we maybe didn’t need to do, and because we tried to cover George, we boxed at the same time as Charles.
“I for sure could have gone another five, six laps, created a tyre delta, and then come back through like Carlos did. So just an opinion, but it’s something we’ll discuss and review.”
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