McLaren boss Andrea Stella commended Lando Norris’ “wise approach” to avoiding contact at the start of Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix, despite costing him a win.
Norris started at the sharp end on pole position but slipped to third on the first lap when he was sandwiched between Max Verstappen and George Russell into Turn 1.
The Briton would come to rue losing the place to Verstappen as the Red Bull driver was able to pass Russell on the third lap and build a gap that would prove decisive.
While he managed to recover to second place with ease utilising fresher rubber later in the race, Norris wound up 2.2 seconds behind Verstappen with his late charge.
Norris rued the start providing the turning point as he contended that he was in the “quickest car”, but Stella has argued that his driver was powerless to keep the lead.
Stella explained how the high-downforce set-up configurations accentuated the slipstream effect on the extensive approach to Turn 1, making Norris more vulnerable.
“I would say that as for today the main factor is that we couldn’t defend the first position,” Stella accepted. “In Barcelona this is not necessarily a surprise.
“Because you have such a long run to corner one. The cars run high downforce.
“So as soon as you gain a bit of slipstream it makes you so much faster than the car ahead, which meant that Lando was not in condition to defend his pole position.”
Instead, Stella elected to shine a positive light on Norris’ start and lavished praise on his driver’s split second decision to ensure that he didn’t incur damage to his car.
“I actually appreciated his wise approach,” he added. “Stay out of trouble, the race we know is going to come to us. Just the time lost behind Russell, it was too much.
“I would say that a couple of positions lost at corner one. And the time lost behind Russell, they are the two decisive factors. The pit stop probably another one second.
“But in fairness even the one second. If we had been behind Verstappen at the start, I think we could have played our cards with good chances.”
Stella remains unconcerned with Norris chastisting his own outing in Barcelona and touted that such “marginal” matters being discussed shows McLaren’s progress.
“You know the fact that Lando is self-critical is a style,” he acknowledged. “And sometimes we react very much on the style rather than on the content of things.
“I think actually Lando’s start wasn’t very bad at all. It was a decent start. He’s almost one car ahead of Max. The fact is that Russell got the double slipstream of Lando and Max.
“And in corner one I think Lando was just very wise. Because it’s a second and your race is gone. And that’s not the way we want to race. We want to stay in the race.
“So I think from an opportunity point of view, as we said before, it’s more of a detail. You can do an even better start. You could have been one meter ahead.
“But it’s very marginal. And the fact that Lando might have been harsh on himself in terms of the responsibility for that. I think it’s just a style aspect.”
The Italian believes that Norris tending to fixate on his own shortcomings rather than blame external aspects is a desirable trait that encourages overall improvement.
“Some of the drivers would have complained that ‘Oh, Barcelona’s straight is too long’.
“Actually, I like that people look at their own opportunities before thinking that the world plays against you.
“I think that’s the way you actually work on the variables that you can control. We don’t overreact to the style of Lando being tough with himself.
“Certainly, I’m sure this is something that he will keep fine tuning over the years. But from Lando’s point of view, I think he just drove very well the entire weekend.”
