Lando Norris has admitted he needs to review several things from Formula 1‘s Belgian Grand Prix with McLaren after losing out to team-mate Oscar Piastri.
Norris went into the 44-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps hoping to cut his deficit to Piastri in the championship.
But having started from pole position, the Briton lost out to his team-mate once the race began with a rolling restart, 80 minutes later than scheduled in the wet.
The Australian zipped past the eight-time Grand Prix winner on the Kemmel straight, with Norris suffering from a suspected battery issue on the first racing lap.
The interchangeable weather threw yet another spanner in the works for Norris, who was forced to stay out a lap longer on his waning Intermediate tyres as Piastri took priority.
“I was the second one to stop. I think I lost eight or nine seconds just by being the second car to box,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week.
Norris, who took on the Hards compared to Piastri on Mediums, was unable to catch his team-mate as a wide moment at Pouhon and two lock-ups into Turn 1 hampered his bid.
“To catch Oscar from that gap is quite an achievement. I didn’t think I’d be able to catch. I gave it a good shot, but just not close enough,” he conceded.
The 25-year-old conceded that the team needed to review how his race panned out.
“Will [Joseph, Norris’ race engineer] said, ‘Do I want the Hard tyre?’ I said, yes,” he explained regarding the decision to split strategies.
“That was it. I didn’t even know Oscar was on the Medium, to be honest with you. That didn’t influence my decision.
“I thought the Hard tyre would be a slightly better tyre to the end, a bit trickier to get warmed up.
“The opening laps were maybe a little bit more of a struggle, which I think it was. I think the last few laps I had the advantage in terms of grip, but it was not a great pitstop.
“I need to look at it with the team. I don’t know.”
Norris takes blame for Belgian GP loss
Speaking about the time he lost to Piastri on his in-lap with the Intermediate tyres, Norris deliberated if double-stacking would have been a less painful outcome for him.
“I need to ask the team. It’s tough because you’re also going to lose quite a good chunk of time doing that [double-stacking] as well,” Norris examined.
“Considering the slick tyre was so much better by that point. Like Oscar said, it was a late call for us to box on that lap.
“I think if we reviewed it, we probably would have kicked ourselves a little bit for staying out as long as we did.
“I think there was enough evidence that we should have boxed early, but no one boxed that early.
“I think it was just more painful for me that Oscar got the good lap. I had to go one lap longer. That’s life.”
Norris’ second-place finish leaves him 16 points behind Piastri in the Drivers’ Championship going into the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend.
And while he does feel the need to debrief the race, Norris took the blame on himself for messing up the start that triggered the chain of events that unfolded.
“It’s hard. I didn’t have the best turn one, so it’s hard to know how much that played a part,” he added.
“At the same time, Oscar came past me pretty easily, so even if I had a better turn one, his run and the slipstream probably still would have got me.
“I’m not too disappointed. Of course, disappointed to finish second, but when you saw Saturday and you saw today, then P1 didn’t look the best place to begin with.
“I also didn’t get the best turn one, so I need to look at what I could have done better.”
READ MORE – Oscar Piastri resists Lando Norris charge to win delayed F1 Belgian GP
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