(Motorsport-Total.com) – Seventh place does not at all reflect McLaren’s true potential at the Belgian Grand Prix from Lando Norris’s perspective. After his comeback, the Briton was convinced that much more would have been possible. The penalty drop, two unfortunately timed Virtual Safety Car phases, and a slow pit stop ruined a possible top result.
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Already team principal Andrea Stella made it clear after the race that McLaren had assessed the weekend as much more competitive than the final result suggests. “Lando’s actual starting position would have been third,” explains Stella. “The penalty drop due to the power unit components set us back.”
Stella: The car was good enough for the podium
From the Italian’s point of view, Norris could have fought directly for the top positions without the penalty drop. “I think, in terms of pure pace, the car was good enough for second place.” Stella also refers to Max Verstappen’s qualifying lap.
“Verstappen gained almost three tenths of a second in the last sector thanks to the slipstream from Isack Hadjar.” This meant McLaren was worse off on the starting grid than their actual performance justified. “The car had the pace in qualifying.”
This impression was also confirmed in the race. “From what we saw today, the car had the pace to fight for podium places.” At the same time, Stella warns to be cautious. Spa suits the car better than other tracks. “That does not automatically mean that we can also fight for the podium in Silverstone.”
McLaren is still heavily dependent on the respective track conditions. “At the moment, we still react very sensitively to track characteristics and grip level.” The team needs to work on exactly that. “Our goal is to be able to fight for podium places on every track regardless of these factors.”
Norris: “The pace was incredible”
Norris himself was able to take some positives from the race despite seventh place. “The pace was honestly incredible.” The McLaren driver believes that much more would have been possible. “I think we easily had the pace for the podium today.”
However, the race was complicated from the start due to the starting position in 13th place. “Of course, everything got more difficult because I started from 13th.” Two further setbacks followed. “The Virtual Safety Cars came at exactly the wrong time for us.”
While drivers on an alternative strategy benefited, Norris lost valuable time. “I think we lost about ten seconds because of that.” Even more serious was the pit stop. “The pit stop cost us about five seconds.”
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Overall, the lost seconds add up significantly. “That’s about 16 seconds that were simply added to my race time.” Under these circumstances, it was almost impossible to move further forward. “I don’t think we could have made the race any harder for ourselves today.”
“I think we could have won”
Norris’s assessment of McLaren’s actual competitiveness was particularly remarkable. “Honestly, I think we had the pace to win the race today.” Above all, the pure speed impressed him. “It was probably the best race pace we’ve had this season so far.”
Nevertheless, the Briton cannot fully explain the sudden performance jump. “We haven’t really changed anything fundamental since last weekend.” Of course, the team has continued to optimize the car. “But if we went back to Silverstone now, we would probably be significantly further back again.”
Therefore, McLaren needs to understand why the car was so competitive specifically at Spa. “We have to find out why this track suited us better and hope the rest of the season goes similarly.”
The data rather speaks for the podium
As optimistic as Norris is about his chances of winning, the available race data paints a somewhat more differentiated picture. Calculating the strategy-adjusted race pace, Norris was on average about 0.33 seconds per lap behind race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Mercedes.
Although the McLaren driver spent significantly more time in traffic after starting from the midfield than the leaders, which additionally affected his average times, it still seems rather unlikely that McLaren could have put sustained pressure on Mercedes on their own.
More realistic, however, is the assessment regarding the podium. Both team principal Andrea Stella and Norris himself are likely correct in their analysis that without the penalty drop, the unfortunate strategy, and the slow pit stop, McLaren could have played a decisive role in the fight with Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen for the top 3.
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