McLaren boss Andrea Stella has claimed Lando Norris could’ve won the Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix without his clashes with Max Verstappen earlier in the race.
Norris capitalised on a late Charles Leclerc mistake to split the two Ferrari drivers on the podium as his second place saw him take 10 points out of Verstappen’s lead.
However, Norris could have been celebrating a win in alternative circumstances based on the late charge that saw him cross the line 4.7 seconds behind Carlos Sainz.
But the Briton was made to rue being tucked up behind Verstappen throughout the entire first stint when two rash moves saw the Dutchman retain position on Lap 10.
Norris tried to pass Verstappen around the outside at Turn 4, but, like in Austin, he was pushed wide in an incident that this time earned the latter a 10-second penalty.
Verstappen’s punishment would be doubled when he launched a reckless lunge on Norris into Turn 7 on the same lap as the McLaren had returned to the track ahead.
With Norris almost 15 seconds behind Sainz once Verstappen ventured into the pits on Lap 27, Stella has admitted that the opening spell cost McLaren a race victory.
“At the start of the race, during the first stint, I thought, this is not making a big difference, because I thought the Ferraris were faster today,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“But as we were going through the first stint, actually Lando, as soon as he got clear of Verstappen, showed that he had very competitive pace.
“And then in the second stint actually proved that the pace was as fast as Ferrari.
“So, in hindsight now, when I look at the incidents in the early laps of the race, there’s a little bit of disappointment.
“Because without that couple of incidents, I think Lando could have fought for the victory today. Anyhow, this is just if, if, if.
“For me, the important fact is that we have seen that the car is competitive, the upgraded car seems to be now on par with Ferrari.
“At a track that we thought would be more in favour of Ferrari, so this is encouraging for the remainder of the season.”
Stella lauds Norris’ patient approach
Stella has commended Norris for not allowing his agitation at his latest incident with Verstappen to lead to a collision which might have harmed McLaren’s prospects.
“The message we gave to Lando was, ‘we have pace, if we can pass him, let’s do it’,” the Italian explained.
“Because we understood, like I said, at some stage, that we could compete with Ferrari, and we were losing time behind Max.
“But obviously, we didn’t need to say, Lando knows very well that this kind of overtaking needs to happen in a safe way, because for us, we are competing on both fronts, the Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ Championship.
“And even when you engage this kind of battles, you need to think both things. Like, we need to finish races.
“But this was clear, we have talked extensively about this before the race, in our objectives with the drivers, so we didn’t need to repeat to Lando.”
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