Red Bull boss Christian Horner has claimed McLaren squandered an opening to win the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix when it switched one lap too late onto slicks.
Norris capitalised on preserving his Intermediates in better shape than his rivals to pass both Max Verstappen and polesitterGeorge Russell once DRS was activated.
But while Norris surrendered the lead when McLaren were slow to pit under a Safety Car, Horner has contended that the turning point came much later on in the race.
McLaren elected to prolong the move to slicks with Norris as it spied the chance to execute an overtake as its rivals struggled to generate temperature on dry rubber.
Although Norris had opened up a gap big enough to emerge with Verstappen behind, the Briton squirmed on the wet pit exit and the Red Bull sliced back into the lead.
Horner has issued that McLaren would have stood a greater shot at retaining the position had it pitted one lap earlier when Verstappen was tip toeing on the Medium.
“I thought we were in a much better window as the circuit dried out,” Horner told Autosport.
“We were able to hold a consistent gap and then it was all about getting the crossover at the right time, because the first sector was pretty damp.
“When you drive out of the pitlane, you lose a huge amount of the temperature.
“I felt like we timed that about right, going onto the medium tyre. Whilst Lando was able to capitalise enough to hit the 20-second mark, and it hovered around that,
with each lap we did, the tyres were getting warmer and I was surprised they didn’t cover after one lap.
“They left him for two and that was crucial as that gave Max another lap to generate the temperature.
“When Lando did pit, he [Verstappen] had tyres that were in a window and was able to drive and pull out a three-second gap by sector one. So that timing was crucial.”
Horner has conceded McLaren looked set to dominate proceedings with Norris as the track dried during the opening exchanges and he streaked seven seconds clear.
“In the first stint, we looked very competitive at the beginning of the race, pushing George very hard and pulled out seven seconds very quickly on the cars behind,” he said.
“So the wetter conditions we were set-up pretty well for.
“Then unfortunately, we just dropped a little back from George as the DRS opened, which then allowed Lando to come back as the track was drying out.
“It looked like the Mercedes was in more trouble, but we were struggling to get past and that gave Lando a free pass.
“At that point, it looked like McLaren was the favourite to walk away and win the race. Then pitstops came and we went onto another new set of Inters.
“There was a Safety Car that neutralised everything and the adjustments we made, we were then able to get ourselves into a better position.”
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