Lando Norris is adamant that McLaren “should have won” the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix without the team’s “wrong” call on his first pit stop costing him the lead.
Norris retained third in the opening stages but preserved his Intermediates better than the cars ahead to pass Max Verstappen and George Russell in successive laps.
The Briton accelerated clear to open up a commanding near eight-second advantage when Logan Sargeant’s stranded Williams saw the Safety Car needed on Lap 25.
However, McLaren failed to respond to the intervention to pit Norris and circulating an additional lap behind the pace car saw him lose out to Verstappen and Russell.
Norris would repass Russell for second place towards the end when his compatriot made a mistake at Turn 8 as he returned to the podium for the fifth time this term.
But Norris has insisted the chance to beat Verstappen’s Red Bull to the rostrum’s top step was there to be achieved without the strategic mishap McLaren committed.
“We should have won the race today and we didn’t,” Norris claimed. “So frustrating we had the pace, probably not in the dry at the end.
“It turned out it didn’t really matter too much. But yeah, we should have won today, simple as that.
“We didn’t do a good job I think, a good enough job as a team to box what we should have done and not get stuck behind the Safety Car.
“So I don’t think it was a luck or unlucky kind of thing. I don’t think it was the same as Miami. This was just making a wrong call.
“So it’s on me and it’s on the team and it’s something we’ll discuss after. But we should have won today.
“So frustrating, but a tough race and still to end up in second when it could always finish and could be worse is still a good result.”
Norris denied that Safety Car’s timing hampered his chances as he revealed that McLaren had the timing to pit him on the same lap as his rivals to preserve the lead.
“I had enough time to box and we didn’t box,” he continued. “So this was a mistake on us as a team. And yeah, just something we didn’t do a good enough job with.”
McLaren chose to run an extended stint on the Intermediates and that allowed Norris to momentarily regain first position as the others tip-toed around on slick tyres.
Norris has supported the decision that McLaren took at that stage in the race, acknowledging that Russell being able to close up to pass him was down to his driving.
“Staying out on the Intermediate helped me,” he declared. “It helped me have a chance against George. So I overcut him.
“I didn’t do a good enough job afterwards and he was clearly way quicker than us in the dry and even on the Hard tyres.
“So that was completely the right call and a good decision from us to stay out.”
Discussion about this post