Lando Norris believes title rival Max Verstappen “got a bit lucky” with a rule “no one agrees with” in winning a dramatic Sao Paulo Grand Prix from 17th on the grid in a result that has left the McLaren driver’s championship aspirations hanging by a thread.
In a sharp and unexpected turnaround of fortunes for the title protagonists in the space of a few hours on a rain-hit Sunday at Interlagos which featured both qualifying and the race, Norris faltered from pole position to finish only sixth while Verstappen sensationally surged from the back rows of the grid to win for the first time since June.
The race at the front turned on lap 29 when Mercedes’ George Russell, who had taken the lead at the start, pitted with Norris just as Virtual Safety Car period initiated after a spin for Nico Hulkenberg ended.
By pitting, the pair ceded track position to the three cars immediately behind them – Esteban Ocon, Verstappen and Pierre Gasly – and that strategy swiftly backfired as one lap later the Safety Car was called for intensifying rain, before the red flag was then shown after Franco Colapinto crashed heavily.
With the race suspended, all drivers were able to change their tyres for the restart, cancelling out any advantage Norris and Russell may have held had the race continued as normal.
Norris had been heard in the laps before his lap discussing strategy options as conditions started to worsen again and, speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, the Briton insisted when asked about the ultimate call to stop: “I have faith in the team in what they are saying and they have trust in me.
“It was just unlucky. I don’t care about the hindsight side of things, that’s luck for them, nothing more.
“They [Red Bull] got lucky on a rule that no one agrees with. Probably they agreed with it today but every driver has disagreed with it in the past.
“Today it benefitted them, it could have benefitted us if we just stayed out, but that’s a stupid thing to think of. Just a bit unlucky today, nothing more. Of course, disappointing.”
And on his title rival, Norris added: “[Max] drove well. He got a bit lucky but that’s life.”
Having cut Verstappen’s lead to 44 points after winning Saturday’s Sprint, Norris’ deficit has now grown back out to 62 points with just 86 points left to play for over the final three rounds of the season.
Norris must now outscore Verstappen by at least three points at the next race in Las Vegas on November 24 to stop the Dutchman taking the title with two rounds to spare.
Reflecting further on his difficult race which saw him again fail to convert pole into the race lead at the start and then lose positions when running off track at the final restart, Norris said: “All about position loss. We were just under the red flag with the free pit stop for the others, so unfortunate, nothing more.
“George probably felt like he won the race today and he probably deserved to win the race today more than anyone else but sometimes it’s just unlucky and the rules go against you.
“So a difficult day, I made a couple of mistakes that cost me against George and cost me against Charles [Leclerc]. Nothing more. It was a tough day, I did my best. I’ve had a lot of good races, it was about time that something didn’t go right.”
‘I’m not comfortable to leave car out on worn tyres’ – Stella explains pit-stop reasoning
Speaking to the written media after the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said he had no regrets about the decision to pit Norris and Oscar Piastri, who stopped a lap earlier, given the wear levels of their intermediate tyres at the time.
“At some stage when the rain started to increase both drivers acknowledged that we needed new rubber to stay out in those conditions,” said Stella.
“The reason why this decision didn’t pay off is that actually the rain became very intense leading together with a crash to the red flag.
“But we thought at the time with the Virtual Safety Car and the increased amount of water on track it was important to go on the new tyre.
“Without the red flag and with a little bit less intensity, which is always difficult to predict, it would have been quite difficult for the people who had not changed their tyres.
“Sometimes you look brilliant because you commit to something, and it’s always easier to commit when you are behind, and you look like a hero and I’m here congratulating them for their decisions.
“But, at the same time, I backed the decision that we made because it came with the full agreement of the drivers, the pit wall and also a little bit of reason that we need to make sure that we stay on track because we compete for points, we compete for both championships and we need to finish races.
“And, personally, I’m not very comfortable to leave a car out there with tyres that are pretty worn with that amount of water. Without the red flag we would be commenting on another race here.”
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