It speaks volumes for how far Lando Norris has come that there was no pleasing him on Sunday, after he came second in the Spanish Grand Prix.
The Briton cemented his status as Max Verstappen’s main challenger this season, finishing two seconds behind the three-time world champion on a track where Red Bull had won for the past two years.
Yet the overwhelming feeling for Norris was one of frustration. The McLaren driver started on pole position, but was pipped by Verstappen and George Russell at the first corner, with the latter taking the lead.
“I should have won but I f****d up the start,” a despondent Norris said after the race.
“That one thing [the start] cost me everything.
“From Turn 2 onwards, [it was] 10 out of 10. I don’t think I could have done much more, and I think, as a team, we did the perfect strategy. I was very happy with what we did.
“But yeah. The one part of the start, the 1 percent elsewhere, wasn’t good enough.”
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Verstappen soon swept past Russell at the start of Lap 3 and led Norris by five seconds by the time the Briton finally overtook the Mercedes, forcing McLaren into a change of strategy.
Why a sloppy start cost Norris
While the Red Bull pitted on Lap 17, McLaren kept Norris out until Lap 23 in a bid to offset the Dutchman’s track advantage with fresher rubber.
It was a bold move, but it meant the Briton rejoined the race behind Lewis Hamilton and Russell, who finished third and fourth respectively.
It took him four laps to get past the two Mercedes, with him and Russell exchanging position twice in a exhilarating bit of driving at the start of Lap 35.
Norris had cut the gap to Verstappen from nine to five seconds by the time the Red Bull pitted again, before he stopped himself three laps later.
He reemerged just ahead of Russell and eight seconds adrift of Verstappen and while he managed to get the gap down to four seconds, he ran out of laps before he could get close enough to his rival.
While the result did not please Norris, a driver who’s openly self-critical, it was yet another reminder of how much narrower the gap between McLaren and Red Bull is.
McLaren is a serious threat for Red Bull
McLaren was faster than Red Bull all weekend in Barcelona, a track which has long been considered as a true test of machinery and aerodynamics.
“Clearly, today, we lacked that outright pace a bit,” Verstappen said after the race.
“Now it’s up to us to try and find a bit more [performance], try and get that little jump ahead again.”
The Papaya is now firmly Red Bull’s biggest threat, far more so than Ferrari, who could only manage a fifth and sixth place finish respectively with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc after a dismal double DNF in Canada two weeks ago.
The Scuderia is second in the constructors championship 60 points behind Red Bull, with McLaren a further 33 behind, but while Ferrari’s progress has stalled over the past month, the Papaya has all the momentum.
“We’re having to fight really hard for the wins at the moment,” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said.
“We’re having to be on the top of our game as a team, and the drivers have to be at the top of their game as well. That’s Formula 1, that’s as it should be.”
It is a similar story in the drivers’ standings, where Verstappen leads Norris by 69 points, with Leclerc two points behind the Briton.
Since claiming his maiden Formula 1 win in Miami in May, Norris has finished second behind Verstappen in three of the next four races.
Norris has reason to rue missed chances
"We should have got some points back on Max. Potentially there was a chance to beat him in Canada [two weeks ago],” Norris said when asked if he thought he could beat Verstappen to the title.
“Two races I have been second and he has won.”
Norris, however, conceded his Red Bull rival remained the favourite to win a fourth world consecutive world title.
"But Max needs to stop winning. He is still extending it at the minute but we cannot afford to let him run away with it,” he said.
“If I made some better decisions in Canada and had made a better start today, we would have won two races.
"We have what it takes; it’s just about putting it all together.”
The Formula 1 season now moves to Austria and Great Britain over the next two weeks, two tracks that McLaren and Norris have excelled on in recent seasons.
“We are on a good roll,” said Norris.
“I just need to tidy up a few bits and then we will be on top."
The gauntlet to Red Bull has been well and truly thrown down.
