McLaren rue ‘potentially lost podium’ with hesitant Norris tyre call

Norris started on the front-row alongside Max Verstappen but ended up slipping down the order after making the switch to intermediate tyres later than his rivals when an early deluge hit. 

Although Norris recovered to seventh, two places ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella felt his side should have come away from Zandvoort with a stronger result. 

Asked by Crash.net whether he considered the result a missed opportunity, Stella replied: “Yes.

“In two ways it is a missed opportunity. It might have been a bit lost in the noise, but actually Oscar, who stayed out, he was coming through very fast and he was in a strong position. 

“Unfortunately he locked up the front tyres in Turn 1 and he needed to pit. And then once he pitted, the Safety Car came out. 

“So we had the double hit with Oscar, that he had this lock-up, while he was overtaking Magnussen, and then the Safety Car coming out. 

“But Oscar’s strategy was actually putting him ahead of Albon, who was racing in P6 after the Safety Car and Oscar was clearly ahead. So there’s a missed opportunity there. 

“And there’s definitely a missed opportunity with Lando in not executing the race perfectly today, because we hesitated too much in pitting while it was raining.”

When pressed on whether he felt a podium was on the cards, Stella said: “Potentially. I think Fernando was ahead of Lando, because he was ahead of him on track. 

“So fair play to Fernando that he gained the position on track. But behind Fernando, it could have been the position for Lando to finish on. 

“So definitely the missed opportunity includes a potentially missed podium.” 

Stella confirmed that McLaren will review their communications, something Norris noted after the race, lamenting that “nothing was clear enough”.

“There was just different information. Nothing was clear enough,” Norris told Sky. 

“It’s up to us. At the time, you do the best that you can. It’s hard enough to keep it on track in the first place. That’s the first challenge I’ve got to think of. 

“On the second lap when I was so easily overtaken by Perez, I was surprised that we stayed out. A lot goes through my head at that time!” 

The Briton added: “It’s clear we made the wrong decision, we made a bad decision, it’s something we’ll talk about and review. 

"We’ve made a couple this season, we’ve lost too many positions and too many points with a coupe of these things.”