Lando Norris finishing 2nd in last week’s Spanish Grand Prix, losing out to Max Verstappen despite starting in pole position.
A recording of Lando’s in-car radio after the race reveals exactly how he felt after being beaten by the Dutchman.
Things went wrong for Lando at the very start of the race. Despite being on pole, by the time he exited turn 1 he was down to third place having been passed by both Verstappen and Russell.
From there on in he was hampered by the Mercedes of Russell in front of him, and the time he lost in his dirty air whilst trying to overtake allowed Max to scamper away up the road.
After clearing Russell and the final round of pit stops, Lando had a late-race charge to try and close up to Verstappen. McLaren decided to pit Lando later than Max so he had fresher tyres come the end of the race.
But depsite the tyre advantage and his best efforts, Max was too far ahead and Lando finished in second place with a gap of just over 2 seconds to the Red Bull ahead.
P2 in Barcelona and P2 in the Drivers' Championship. 👏🧡#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/qnwVa6ChTs
— McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 23, 2024
The start is what really cost Lando. Not only did he lose out to Verstappen despite squeezing him on to the grass, Russell who started in 4th place got a slipstream and passed everyone ahead of him in to turn 1.
Lando knew he messed up at the start by dropping two positions. In a post-race interview he said “it wasn’t like it was a bad start… Max just got there and I couldn’t cover him, and that was it. It wasn’t the best start but it wasn’t bad.”
At the end of the race his frustration was palpable on his team radio. After he passed the chequered flag his engineer came on the radio to him and said “P2, as you know. And fastest lap”.
Lando’s response was that of a clearly dejected driver: “Yeah it doesn’t matter really, does it? I should have won, I f****d the start. Car was amazing, well done. We deserved more.”
His dissapointment in himself continued during the post-race press conference. When asked how he’d sum up his race, Lando said “Not good enough, we should have won today. We had the quickest car but I just lost it at the start.”
He went on to say “I just didn’t go a good enough job off the line, and that one thing cost me everything today.”
When questioned whether he was a bit conservative in to the first corner, Lando said he “made the right decision by backing out of it” when conceding the position to George around the outside, knowing he’d already lost the spot to Max on the inside.
Being sandwiched in between two other cars heading in to Turn 1 at the Barcelona circuit is a recipe for a collision if none of the drivers decide to give way. Lando said “had I braked 2 metres later I think I would have taken everyone out with me”.
When asked exactly what went wrong with the start Lando said “my initial launch was better than Max’s, but the second phase – the drive out – was not as good. I don’t know any more than that apart from that Max got alongside me. I need to sit down with my engineers and talk.”
The run to the first corner at Barcelona is one of the longest on the calendar, giving the cars on the second row a big advantage in the slipsteam. Lando said that “I almost think George would have led no matter what, even if my start was 2 metres better. That’s what happens in Barcelona.”
Lando’s team radio and interviews show he was clearly frustrated with himself after finishing 2nd, knowing he could have done a little better at the start. But Formula 1 is a game of tiny margins, and hopefully Lando will come back fighting next race weekend.
