Norris claims latest technical directive has "changed nothing"
Although he lost a position to Max Verstappen at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren driver Lando Norris had just done enough to finish the Barcelona race behind race winner Oscar Piastri.
McLaren locked out the front row for the Spanish Grand Prix, with Oscar Piastri having headed his team-mate Lando Norris in qualifying. The papaya team had been expected to displayed an even more dominant performance in a race given the high ambient and track temperatures.
Although the first stint indicated that the 66-lap Barcelona round would be a a straightforward race for McLaren, Red Bull put Max Verstappen on a three-stop strategy. With the Dutchman having displayed eye-catching pace through his second stint, McLaren were forced to ask their drivers to pick up the pace in order to cover Verstappen.
While Piastri built up a healthy gap, Norris had to work a little harder in the early stages as he fell behind Verstappen at the start. However, once he made his way past the reigning champion, he looked to control the gap even when Verstappen closed up in the late pit stops.
When the late Safety Car came out, Piastri and Norris had to defend at the restart, but they were able to escape from their rivals, with Piastri winning the Spanish Grand Prix from his team-mate Norris.
Reflecting on his race, Norris said: "Oscar drove a very good race today. Didn't quite have the pace to match him, but we gave it our best shot. It's a long race, you know, anything could have happened at the end.
"We both got pretty sideways with the Safety Car restart. It was a good fun race, you know, and for us as a team to finish one-two is even better.
Pressed on to share his opinion regarding the start which saw Norris lose a place to Verstappen, the Briton stated that he did simply not want to take unnecessary risks.
"I just remember the lights going up pretty quickly, and obviously I was a little bit caught out by that. So, yeah. And then I just couldn't get a slipstream. Yeah, I just… Oscar didn’t give me a slipstream down to Turn 1!
"And then, you know, it was hard to commit into the braking of 1 and Max got past. So it was a long race. I think we knew our pace was going to be strong, so I didn’t need to do anything too risky into Turn 1.
"But, yeah, I don’t think I lost out in the race. I think Oscar drove a very good race today and had a good day yesterday. And, yeah, I had the pace to go with him, but not enough to try and catch up and put him under threat."
Asked about the effect of the latest technical directive that introduced stricter load test for the front wings, Norris stated that the Barcelona round has shown that McLaren has not lost its competitiveness.
"I mean, I hope not, but the team are doing a very good job. We have a lot of good competition. There was a lot of complaints about our car, and they introduced this TD and changed nothing.
"The team have done a very good job to just give us a good all-round car and the best car on the grid. So, we’re very proud to be able to go and drive those cars every weekend. So, it’s credit to the team that we have to give day in and day out. But like Oscar said, there’s still places where we’re vulnerable, especially in qualifying as it gets very close.
"Obviously, yesterday was the biggest margin of the year, but I think people seem to quickly forget how close the other qualifying sessions have been.
"They’ve been split by hundredths and thousandths, and there hasn’t been smooth sailing for us in every single one. So, I think that will be the case in future ones.
"But it’s clear we just have the best car on average, and we still seem stronger in the race. Although, it’s clear that the others are catching up. Our gaps in the race were probably a lot bigger in the beginning of the year than they are now. So I do think that our competitors are catching up. But, yeah, we just need to keep our heads down and keep working hard," Norris concluded.
