McLaren is unsure whether Max Verstappen’s conduct on the formation lap prompted Lando Norris to be aggressive at the start of Formula 1‘s Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Norris lined up on pole position at the Las Vegas Strip Circuit, but a mistake at Turn 1 enabled Verstappen to take a lead that he held until the end to claim the victory.
The Briton appeared to have maintained the high ground when he made a sharp move over to the inside to cover Verstappen’s Red Bull as soon as the lights went out.
However, Norris slipped back to third when he proceeded to run too deep into the opening corner, handing Verstappen and George Russell the chance to get past him.
But while he managed to regain the spot on Russell’s Mercedes, Norris was unable to make inroads on Verstappen until he slowed with an issue in the closing stages.
Norris, who would lose second place when both McLaren cars were excluded post-race, owned up to the error, though he was adamant that it proved inconsequential.
“I messed up Turn 1 – it was pretty poor from me,” Norris told media including Motorsport Week. “I braked too late. So yeah, it was all on me, pretty poor from myself.
“But even if I came out in P1 out of Turn 1, we were not quick enough today. Same as Brazil.
“Max has done a very good job and the Red Bull is very quick. They deserve the win today. They were in another league compared to us.
“So a bit of a shame that we didn’t have more pace, but we’ve got to try and improve a bit more.”
McLaren hesitant to claim Verstappen antics impacted Norris
Norris was heard on the team radio complaining to his long-time McLaren race engineer, Will Joseph, that Verstappen had been hanging back during the warm-up lap.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella was hesitant to claim that was on Norris’ mind at the start, but he agreed that the Woking-based squad had no answer to Red Bull’s pace.
“Instinctively, actually, I thought at the pit wall to tell Will to say like, ‘Tell him to stay calm’,” he told Sky Sports. “But we don’t know whether that was an influence or not.
“He was trying to defend the position, but I think on the inside he found much less grip than what he anticipated and he went a little bit long.
“It’s racing, we lost the position, we regained one on track with Russell, but I’m not sure we could have kept the lead with the pace Verstappen exhibited.
“I think we have to sort of acknowledge that Red Bull and Verstappen today were a little bit faster.
“Obviously it would have been interesting to see if we were in condition to take the lead at the start and somehow use the clean air that you have when you get in the lead.
“But honestly Max was faster than us in pretty much all conditions.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris explains issue that caused him to abandon late F1 victory charge Las Vegas GP
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