Lando Norris did not hide his frustration with the way he lost the victory at the Spanish GP on Sunday (13). The Briton mainly complained about a virtual safety car (VSC) rule that, according to him, ended up taking away his chances of fighting for the win in Madrid on the same level as his rivals.
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In Madring, after Lance Stroll stopped the Aston Martin on the track, the VSC was activated. Norris had already passed the pit entry, while Kimi Antonelli was six seconds behind and managed to stop with the Mercedes. Max Verstappen also took advantage of the neutralization to make his stop.
While the two rivals saved race time, Norris had to complete a full lap at VSC speed before entering the pits. When he finally made the stop, the VSC had already ended, forcing the Briton to pass through the pits at normal speed. The result was a loss of approximately 20 seconds.
Antonelli won the race, with Verstappen second and Norris third. For the McLaren driver, however, the way the result was decided should not be part of the fight for a victory: “I passed the pit entry, so I need to talk to the team, but it’s not a guessing game, so I just got unlucky,” Norris told Sky Sports F1. “I was the only one on the entire grid who didn’t make a pit stop, so I lose 20 seconds to the whole grid. That’s out of my control. It’s out of their control. It’s a rule. It shouldn’t decide a race.
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“A race should be won by the guy who can deliver the best performance, who maybe takes a risk by extending a pit stop, by extending a stint, and maybe you have a safety car later, and things can help because you know that’s one of the big factors. But for everyone to get a safety car for a VSC pit loss, and [for me] to get nothing, it’s just unfair, but it has happened in the past.”
The discussion is not new among Formula 1 drivers. Norris said the issue has already been brought up at the competitors’ meeting, with the suggestion that the VSC remain active for at least a full lap. The idea would be to prevent the exact moment a driver passes the pit entry from determining such a big advantage.
“Others have won because of this. I probably have already won because of this in the past, and I don’t think many people have lost a race win because of this. It’s frustrating. I don’t feel that’s the way you should lose. We’ve talked about this before at the drivers’ meeting, saying they should leave it for at least a full lap, so it’s fair for everyone. I was the only one who lost out, and I lost about 20 seconds of race time, and it’s not how it should be.”
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