McLaren’s Lando Norris despaired over another missed victory opportunity at Silverstone on Sunday, saying that McLaren “threw away” the Formula 1 British Grand Prix win.
Norris qualified third and immediately lost ground to Max Verstappen through the first few corners of Sunday’s race.
However, the McLaren driver was able to recover past the Red Bull driver and when rain intervened, Norris was able to ascend into a race lead.
When the Silverstone circuit transitioned to dry running, Norris and McLaren had a call to make, a switch to scrubbed softs or new mediums.
McLaren opted for the former and after a 4.5s on Lap 39, came out behind eventual winner Lewis Hamilton who had pitted a lap early for fresh softs.
“I’ve heard that a lot lately,” Norris replied when asked if McLaren bungled a victory opportunity.
“I hate saying it again, but yeah, I mean, so many things were going well.
“We threw it away in the final stop. So, one lap, but also I don’t think it was a lap.
“I think even if I boxed on the perfect lap, our decision to go on to the softs was the wrong one.
“I think Lewis still would have won no matter what.
“So, two calls from our side cost us everything today. So, pretty, especially here, pretty disappointing.”
Norris eventually succumbed to Verstappen and finished third, with the Dutchman executing a tyre advantage having pitted for the hards and the McLaren driver’s review that he was on the wrong rubber is backed up by the fact Oscar Piastri, running on mediums during the final stint was setting lap times comparative to the reigning champion.
Norris is right to feel aggrieved considering a clash with Verstappen cost him a win at Austria and just a week later his home race also failed to deliver on the promise shown in practice.
Missed opportunities aside, however, Norris noted how McLaren is embroiled in a tough battle.
That battle is made tougher now Mercedes are back-to-back winners, once by luck and another on merit.
“There’s many of us in the fight,” Norris claimed.
“So, yeah, I expect it to be good battles. I’m sure Ferrari at some point will get their act together and come back.
“But we clearly also weren’t quick enough today. I think when it was completely dry, the Mercedes was a lot quicker.
“In the more slippery conditions, maybe we seemed to be better. So, we have work to do.
“I don’t think, you know, we still had a weekend where we’ve clearly been the quickest. We’ve always been there or thereabouts, but never the [quickest] car.
“I think we need to keep working as a team. I need to keep working on my own stuff and just try and put it together because there are still so many positives.
“There are so many good things and so many things in place. Frustrating when, you know, a few times this season we’ve thrown away something that should have been ours.”
