It wasn’t enough again: Once again, Lando Norris and McLaren came close to their second win of the 2024 season at the British Grand Prix, but once again the top spot on the podium was reserved for another driver. Norris ultimately finished the race in third place, 7.547 seconds behind winner Lewis Hamilton.
McLaren’s strategic decisions in the final sprint are likely to be the main cause of discussion. When the track began to dry again, Norris came into the pits one lap later (lap 39) than his direct competitors Hamilton and Max Verstappen, thus losing the lead in his home race to the former.
Norris criticizes McLaren: Were not good enough
In addition, Norris, like Hamilton, used a used soft tyre instead of a fresh hard tyre like Verstappen, or his teammate Oscar Piastri switched to a fresh set of medium tires. Both Piastri and Verstappen proved right up to the finish that this would have been the better decision. While Verstappen overtook Norris on lap 48 and put Hamilton under pressure, Piastri made up more than 18 seconds on his teammate in the final stint. Meanwhile, the soft tires, which had already shown themselves to be not particularly durable at the start of the race, gave up.
Norris himself also admitted to strategic errors after the race. “Congratulations to Lewis. He simply did the better job with that strategic decision at the end,” said the 24-year-old. “It was tough, it was enjoyable. It was fun to fight with these guys and these difficult conditions are always on a knife edge, you risk a lot. So there are a lot of good things, but a few too many disappointments today. As a team we didn’t quite do the job we should have done, or not well enough.”
Norris struggles: I made some decisions incorrectly
At the same time, Norris also took responsibility for himself after his 20th podium finish in Formula 1. “I also blame myself today for not making some decisions correctly,” said the 116-time GP starter. “But I hate that. I hate ending up in this position and always having excuses for not doing a good enough job.”
Norris also warned, however, not to only see the negative in the narrow defeat at Silverstone. “I’m still happy and I’m going to enjoy it. We still did so many things right and there are so many positives,” said Norris. “But here in Silverstone is the one place where I would like everything to be perfect. It’s not today, but I’m fine.”
Until the fatal mistake at the last pit stop, Norris’ race was like a rollercoaster ride. After the Briton lost third place to Max Verstappen at the start, he showed strong pace in the mixed conditions and overtook the Dutchman again on lap 15 of 52 at Stowe. After Russell and Hamilton went off the track at Turn 1 on lap 19, Norris also gained second place against Russell. One lap later, Hamilton was also due, which meant Norris took the lead.
Norris misses start of World Championship chase
Even after the pit stops on intermediates (27th lap), Norris kept the lead and controlled the race from then on, although Lewis Hamilton slowly came closer towards the end of the second stint. McLaren’s fateful slip followed. As a result, Norris once again missed the opportunity to make up ground on Verstappen in the World Championship – on the contrary. The gap in the drivers’ championship is now 84 points.
At least in the constructors’ championship, McLaren was able to reduce the gap to Red Bull thanks to Sergio Perez’s failed strategy. The gap to Ferrari in second place has even shrunk to just seven points.
You can read the race in detail as well as all the voices and news about the 2024 British GP here in our live ticker: