Devastated Lando Norris reacts to ‘throwing away’ British Grand Prix: ‘I blame myself’
The McLaren driver was leading his home race but a slow pit-stop cost him late on as Lewis Hamilton won
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Your support makes all the difference.Lando Norris struggled to hide his disappointment after a late mistake cost him victory at the British Grand Prix.
In a dramatic wet-dry race at Silverstone, McLaren driver Norris was leading with 14 laps to go before the final round of pit-stops as the frontrunners pitted for dry tyres.
Norris, pitting a lap later than eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton, overran his pit box, resulting in a slow 4.5-second stop. By the time he re-entered the track, Hamilton was leading by two seconds.
Norris, who saw a potential victory taken away from him last week too after colliding with Max Verstappen in Austria, eventually finished third behind Verstappen at Silverstone.
“That crucial decision at the end made the difference,” a devastated Norris said afterwards.
“It was tough, it was fun, tricky conditions, it was on a knife’s edge, you’re risking a lot. A few too many letdowns.
“It’s still lovely to be on the podium. I blame myself, I’m not making the right decisions. I hate ending in this position and making excuses… if there’s one place I’d like everything to go perfectly, it’s here.”
Norris, speaking later in the top-three press conference, insisted the timing of his pit stop – a lap later than Hamilton – was also key to losing position to Hamilton as was the choice of tyre, and his devastation at another victory passing him by was clear.
“I’ve had that a lot lately [close to winning], I hate saying it again,” he said.
“So many things were going well. We threw it away in the final stop. It was one lap but even if I boxed [earlier], the decision to go to the softs was the wrong one.
“Two calls from our side cost us everything today. Especially here, it’s particularly disappointing.”
Having finished below Verstappen, Norris now trails the Red Bull driver by 84 points at the halfway stage of the season.
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