Lando Norris has said McLaren did not give him a “fighting chance” to beat Andrea Kimi Antonelli at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
Norris enjoyed his most successful weekend yet in the 2026 campaign at the Miami International Autodrome.
Not only did he claim the Sprint Pole and win, he also finished second to Mercedes’ Antonelli after the 57-lap race.
That said, the reigning World Champion rued what could have been as he isolated the Woking-based team’s strategy error that virtually put him out of contention for the race win.
The opening phase of the race saw Norris lead Antonelli. However, as the weather became certain lap by lap, Mercedes decided to pit Antonelli and abandon the pursuit of a rain shower.
Norris, hence, was forced to react a lap later, and even though he came out of the pits ahead of the Italian, Antonelli, on much warmer tyres was able to retake the lead easily.
In the end, Norris followed the 19-year-old home in second – never really challenging the Mercedes driver.
“We just got undercut. There’s no excuses other than that,” he told Jenson Button post-race.
“We got undercut. We should have boxed first. I’m gutted to miss out on a win here in Miami, I think it was possible today.
“But yeah, not the pace to get back past him in the end, so we take it on the chin.”
McLaren failed to give Lando Norris “fighting chance” for F1 Miami GP win
Norris believes that Mercedes still had the fastest race car during the weekend but McLaren missed the mark by letting themselves get undercut.
In the end, he surmised whether he would have had at least a “fighting chance” against Antonelli if the team would have pulled the trigger first.
“So, I feel like there was a chance that we could have fought better for it, just not simply letting him undercut us,” he added.
“I know he came and passed me on track because he had just the warmer tyres out of Turn 2, but we should have just never been in that situation in the first place.
“I’m not saying we would have won the race because I think Kimi drove an excellent race and his pace was very strong, especially his pace end of stints was incredibly strong.
“So, he might have still passed me later on in the second stint if we boxed earlier, but at least we would have given ourselves a fighting chance, and we didn’t give that to ourselves.
“So I’m a little bit disappointed by that.”
Heading into the Canadian GP, Norris sits fourth in the drivers’ standings, already a whopping 49 points off championship leader, Antonelli.
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