Lando Norris seemed untouchable in Madrid before being caught out by the virtual safety car. For David Coulthard, his dominance turned against him.
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Lando Norris may have lost the Spanish Grand Prix for a reason as paradoxical as it is cruel: he was simply too fast. This is the analysis of David Coulthard after a race that the McLaren driver seemed to perfectly control before the intervention of the virtual safety car.
Starting from pole position, Norris had gradually built a lead of four to five seconds over his pursuers. But when Lance Stroll stopped and caused the neutralization, the Briton had just passed the pit entry. His main rivals were then able to take advantage of a much less costly stop, completely upsetting the hierarchy.
“The problem is that he was too fast”
The virtual safety car was triggered just seconds after Norris passed the pit entry. Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, who were behind him, however, had the opportunity to pit immediately and benefit from the reduced speed imposed on the entire field.
Norris had to complete almost a full lap under neutralization before he could stop. But as he approached the pits, the race was about to resume normally. The advantage his rivals had enjoyed had therefore disappeared.
For Coulthard, this situation paradoxically would not have existed if Norris had been less competitive during his first stint.
“Life is not perfect. But I think we all agree that Lando was incredible during this race.”
The former Formula 1 driver then sums up the paradox that doomed the world champion.
“Here is the problem: he was too fast. If he had been slower, he could have pitted under the virtual safety car.”
His lead turned against him
By extending the gap at the front, Norris had precisely distanced himself from his pursuers on the track. This lead of several seconds meant that at the exact moment the neutralization was triggered, Antonelli and Verstappen had not yet reached the pit entry.
They thus benefited from a window that had closed a few moments earlier for Norris. A particularly frustrating situation since his dominance at the start of the race had until then been his main advantage.
“Because he had built this four or five second lead, it was suddenly he who became the victim of the situation. Bad luck for Lando.”
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The Briton eventually finished third behind Antonelli and Verstappen. He tried to catch up with the Red Bull driver in the final laps thanks to fresher tires, but the overtaking difficulties at the Madrid circuit prevented him from turning his pace advantage into second place.
Coulthard defends McLaren’s decision
McLaren’s strategy was also questioned after the race. Some notably felt that the team could have kept Norris on track rather than bringing him in while the neutralization was ending, which caused him to lose a large part of his advantage.
Coulthard believes, however, that this view overlooks an essential element: Norris’s medium tires were approaching their limit and McLaren considered they would not last long enough. A stop had therefore become necessary, with or without virtual safety car.
“They brought him in practically at the end of the virtual safety car to remove those medium tires, because they thought they wouldn’t last until the end.”
McLaren thus found itself in a situation where Norris had to bear the full cost of a pit stop anyway.
“So they had to stop no matter what and suffer the full time loss. Using the gap they had to find a window was the best option at that moment.”
A stop also slower than expected
Bad luck was not limited to the timing chosen by race control to trigger and then end the neutralization. Norris also lost a few extra seconds during his pit stop due to a problem with his front right wheel.
“On top of that, their stop was a bit slow. They had a problem with the front right wheel.”
Despite this setback, Coulthard does not question the strategy chosen by McLaren. According to him, the team was mainly a victim of a particularly unfavorable chain of circumstances that it could not really anticipate.
Norris had dominated the start of the Grand Prix and seemed in position to claim a third victory in four races. But the few seconds of lead he had built himself ultimately allowed Antonelli and Verstappen to reach the pits at the ideal moment. In Madrid, being too fast was exceptionally a disadvantage.
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