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Lando Norris has delivered a scathing assessment of McLaren's strategy at the Belgian Grand Prix, insisting the team squandered a genuine chance to fight for victory. The British driver finished seventh at Spa-Francorchamps but believes the MCL40's race pace was strong enough to challenge for the win had his team executed a cleaner strategy.
Norris started 13th after a grid penalty but carved his way through the field with impressive pace. Yet the result left him frustrated rather than satisfied, convinced that McLaren's strategic missteps cost him at least 16 seconds over the course of the afternoon.
Speaking after the race, Norris was unequivocal in his criticism. "The speed was really, really good. If you look purely at our pace, we should have been on the podium today without any issues. Obviously starting from P13 made it harder, but I felt there was much more possible," he said.
Virtual Safety Car timing hurts McLaren
The crux of Norris's complaint centred on the timing of the Virtual Safety Car periods, which he believes McLaren misjudged. While rival teams capitalised on the reduced delta times to make cheaper pit stops, Norris was left out on track at the wrong moments.
"The Virtual Safety Cars came at exactly the wrong times for us. They played into the hands of the drivers on the hard tyre and came just too early for me. We need to analyse properly whether we should have just stopped during one of those VSCs," Norris explained.
The McLaren driver's frustration was compounded by a slow pit stop that added further time loss. "Because of those choices I lost about ten seconds, and then during the pit stop another five or six seconds came on top of that. That's around 16 seconds extra on my race time in total. When you're already starting from 13th, you're making it very difficult for yourself."
Norris convinced victory was within reach
What elevates Norris's post-race comments from mild disappointment to genuine anger is his conviction that McLaren had the outright pace to win. Finishing seventh from 13th on the grid would ordinarily represent solid damage limitation, but Norris believes the team's underlying speed merited far more.
"I honestly don't think we could have made our race any more difficult. The pace was good enough for a podium and maybe even for the win. That's precisely why it's so frustrating that we never really gave ourselves the chance to fight for it," he said.
Wider implications for McLaren's title fight
The Belgian Grand Prix marked another missed opportunity in what has become a tight constructors' championship battle. McLaren entered the European triple-header with momentum but has now surrendered points through a combination of penalties and strategic misjudgements.
Norris's comments will raise questions inside the Woking factory about decision-making under pressure. While the MCL40 has proven competitive at power-sensitive circuits like Spa, converting that raw speed into results requires flawless execution on strategy and in the pit lane. On this occasion, McLaren fell short on both counts.
With the championship picture tightening, the team can ill afford to leave such performances on the table. Norris's blunt assessment suggests he believes the margin for error has now disappeared entirely.
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