Lando Norris seemed to be heading for a comfortable victory in Madrid, but two small seconds were enough to turn his Grand Prix around.
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Two seconds. That is approximately what separated Lando Norris from a probable victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. The McLaren driver had just crossed the pit entry line when the race control triggered the virtual safety car following the immobilization of Lance Stroll.
Leader from the start and comfortably installed in front, Norris then had no reason to worry. But in a few moments, the timing of the neutralization completely reversed the situation by allowing Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen to stop under much more advantageous conditions.
Two seconds too late for Norris
The incident that caused this upheaval occurred when Stroll immobilized his Aston Martin in the runoff area of turn 20 due to a brake failure. Race control then activated the virtual safety car to allow the marshals to intervene.
The problem for Norris was that he had crossed the pit entry about two seconds earlier. Once committed to a new lap, he obviously could no longer turn back and had to complete the entire circuit before being able to change his tires.
Behind him, Antonelli and Verstappen benefited from a completely different situation. Both still had the possibility to immediately join the pits and thus made their stop while the entire field was circulating at reduced speed.
The regulations did not impose any closure of the pit lane. Under virtual safety car, drivers are still allowed to enter to change tires, except for exceptional decisions by the race director for safety reasons.
A much less costly stop for Antonelli and Verstappen
Making a stop under virtual safety car provides a considerable advantage. Since the cars on track must respect a reference time and drive much slower, the time lost by the one who goes through the pits is significantly less than that of a stop made when the race is running at full speed.
Depending on the characteristics of the circuit and the time imposed in the pit lane, the savings can generally represent between four and ten seconds. In Madrid, this advantage was enough to completely upset the hierarchy.
Antonelli and Verstappen were therefore able to make their tire change at a lower cost, while Norris was slowly moving around the Madring waiting to finally be able to enter in turn.
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And the Briton’s bad luck did not stop there. When he finally returned to the pit entry, the virtual safety car period had just ended. The race had resumed at full speed, forcing Norris to pay this time the full time normally lost during a stop.
A shift estimated at about 20 seconds
Norris thus suffered the worst possible scenario: too late to benefit from the start of the neutralization and too early to still benefit from it on the next lap. The world champion estimates that the entire sequence cost him about 20 seconds compared to his rivals.
“I was the only driver on the entire grid not to benefit from a pit stop. So I lose about 20 seconds on everyone.”
Before this episode, Norris seemed to perfectly control the race. Starting from pole position, he had kept the lead at the start and gradually built his lead, with a McLaren that appeared to be the fastest car on long stints.
This timing difference was enough to erase in a few moments all the work done during the first 14 laps.
Antonelli acknowledges having benefited from the situation
Antonelli did not hide behind his victory. The Mercedes driver admitted after the finish that the timing of the virtual safety car had been particularly favorable to him and that Norris seemed in a better position to win before this neutralization.
His stop allowed him to put on hard tires at a lower cost and virtually take the lead of the race. An opportunity he then perfectly exploited to claim his eighth victory of the season.
Norris finally recovered third place after the later stops of George Russell and Charles Leclerc. Having quickly caught up with Verstappen in the last laps, he nevertheless failed to overtake the Red Bull on a Madring where attacking opportunities proved extremely limited.
The Briton therefore had to settle for the last step of the podium while a comfortable victory seemed within his reach a few minutes earlier. A race lost not because of a mistake, a lack of pace or a bad strategic decision, but simply because he had crossed the pit entry about two seconds too early.
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