Lando Norris has disclosed that McLaren made two crucial errors that cost him victory at the British Grand Prix, expressing his frustration over missed opportunities.
Lewis Hamilton secured a record-breaking ninth win at Silverstone, achieving his 104th career victory. Hamilton overtook Norris by pitting one lap earlier to switch from intermediates to slicks for the final part of the race. Despite McLaren having a fresh set of medium tires available — which their rivals did not have — they chose to follow Hamilton onto softs. This decision proved costly, as Norris struggled to maintain the tires and slipped to third behind Max Verstappen.
“I’ve heard that a lot lately, so I hate saying it again,” Norris said of a win that got away. “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. Two calls from our side cost us everything today. Especially here, pretty disappointing.”
Norris, who has only one win this season despite being in contention for multiple victories since a significant upgrade in Miami, acknowledged his role in the team’s strategic decisions and accepted a share of the responsibility.
“I’m not making the right decisions. …I blame myself today for not making some of the right decisions. I hate it. I hate ending in this position and forever having excuses for not doing a good enough job.”
FIA Admits Error, Updates Guidelines Following Verstappen-Norris Collision in Austrian Grand Prix
The FIA has admitted an oversight in not warning Max Verstappen for his actions against Lando Norris during the Austrian Grand Prix, which led to a collision that ended Norris’s race and demoted Verstappen to fifth place.
McLaren argued that the crash could have been avoided if Verstappen had been warned for moving under braking, a violation of Formula 1 regulations. According to the rules, a driver defending their position must not change their driving line after braking begins.
During a team managers’ meeting at the British Grand Prix, F1 race director Niels Wittich conceded that a warning flag should have been shown to Verstappen. This oversight by the race officials has prompted the FIA to update its guidelines on the use of the black-and-white warning flag, expanding the conditions under which it can be deployed.