Lando Norris suffered abysmal luck in the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix, which saw him lose out on victory and take third place instead.
Despite taking a shocking pole position after finding 0.750 tenths in his final Q3 run, the race didn’t fall in quite the same way for Norris.
Though he staved off any challenges from Antonelli and Verstappen into turn 1 and the first lap, Norris didn’t escape the race with no issues. Overtaking remained difficult and near impossible, but when Lance Stroll struggled with his brakes and stopped on track, the first overtaking opportunity arose in the pit lane.
Unfortunately for Norris, he was the one who caught the wrong side. The reigning champion passed the pit lane entrance moments before the Virtual Safety Car was brought out, and then, as he came into the pits, the VSC ended.
Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli both capitalised on the VSC pit stop, and Norris then had a slow seven-second stop, which compounded the issue.
A ‘cruel’ result for Lando Norris
Zak Brown was asked about how the racing gods didn’t favour the Briton this weekend on Sky Sports, and Brown said: “They were cruel today – twice!
“I mean, Lando was gone; the team did a great job. The VSC came out a couple of seconds after Lando had gone by, and then went away a couple of seconds before we pit. There’s nothing we could have done.
“[But] Great to hear Lando’s radio message; we just shrug it off. I think that was our race by 20-25 seconds.”
Norris told the media, including Motorsport Week, in the post-race press conference that while it’s frustrating, it’s part of racing. Drivers often benefit from VSC and Safety Cars just as much as they are hindered by them.
However, Brown went on to say how Norris was ‘in a league of his own’ in Madring, and it’s a shame to see him lose out on that victory over something out of his control.
Brown stated that Norris “was dominant” around the Madring. He added: “He was gone. Managing it, great; tyre wear was great. Yeah, he was in a league of his own. It’s just unfortunate.
“He’s got a trophy, but it’s a P3, not a P1.”
Kimi Antonelli echoed similar sentiments after the race, saying that he believed Norris deserved the race on pace and merit and that Mercedes and he were in the right place.
Despite the result, McLaren’s pace in qualifying and race trim is encouraging for the rest of the season, putting them in a position to challenge for more victories in the future.
READ MORE: Kimi Antonelli christens the Madring with maiden F1 Spanish GP win
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