By the time he arrived at the main FIA press conference, an hour or so after this race finished, Lando Norris had cooled down a bit. The furious young man full of self-recrimination, who had cursed himself on his warm-down lap for having “f----- up the start” of this race, blowing what he insisted “should have been” his victory, had been replaced by a more measured one. Still disappointed, yes.
But stressing the positives of another weekend in which McLaren showed they were more than a match for Red Bull. But this behaviour is becoming a pattern. And nobody is more aware of it than Norris.
“I know, I know” he said. “Coulda, woulda, shoulda.”
If you were to look at this season’s results in isolation, you would imagine Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to be utterly dominant. This was the Dutch driver’s seventh win in 10 races, moving him 69 points clear in the drivers’ standings.
For all the talk that the field is converging, Verstappen has won three of the past four grands prix. Yet the truth is, he probably should not have won any of them. The three-time world champion took pole at only one of those four races, in Imola last month. And McLaren were left kicking themselves.
Verstappen went on to produce a champion’s drive, holding off Norris’s late charge to win by 0.7sec. Who knows what might have happened had the Woking team had two cards to play, and Oscar Piastri not been demoted three places on the grid? In Monaco, Red Bull were well off the pace. And then in Canada, George Russell should have won. And if not him, then probably Norris.
“Max is proving the difference,” acknowledged Red Bull team principal Christian Horner after this latest victory. “I think it would have been difficult to beat McLaren today if he had not got past him at the start.”
It was a statement of the obvious, but also an intriguing admission with Mercedes still sniffing around Verstappen.
Toto Wolff was asked once again after this race about his longstanding interest in the 26-year-old and whether there was “any dialogue” between them at the moment with regard to a seat, possibly as early as next year. Wolff denied there was. But there is no doubt he still wants him, and that he is holding off naming a replacement for the Ferrari-bound Hamilton for as long as there is even the remotest possibility that he might be able to snaffle him.
What a loss he would be to Red Bull. Their second driver, Sergio Perez, is still in a complete funk and unless the Mexican can rediscover some form, he is going to cost them the constructors’ crown.
This was another painful weekend for Perez, who qualified eighth, was demoted to 11th thanks to his three-place grid penalty from Canada, and recovered to finish seventh. The speed deficit to Verstappen was not such an issue when Red Bull enjoyed a gargantuan advantage over the rest of the field. But now that the pack has closed, Perez needs to up his game or he will find himself out of a seat, new contract or not.
As it is, Verstappen is working alone to hold off the field. He is doing an unbelievable job of it, but for how much longer? McLaren, and Norris in particular, will surely start to convert some of these positions soon. There are still 14 races left this year, and the title race is by no means over.
After their paddock home went up in smoke on Saturday, Norris’s hopes did the same within the time it took to get down to T1 on Sunday.
The 24 year-old, starting from pole, tried his best to defend from Verstappen on the long run down, pushing the Red Bull onto the grass at one point. But in focusing so hard on the Dutchman, Norris ended up being passed not only by Verstappen but by George Russell, too, the Englishman getting a brilliant launch to go from fourth to first around the outside.
Verstappen wasted little time in passing the Mercedes. Told by his race engineer at the end of lap two, with Russell within DRS range, that “this might be his best opportunity”, he made no mistake. Thereafter, Verstappen was able to manage his tyres and the gap to those behind him.
Norris tried an offset strategy, going longer on both tyre stints. But he had to battle back through the field the first time - engaging in a brilliant wheel-to-wheel battle with Russell at one point – and then from an eight-second deficit the second time. He managed to close to within 2.2sec of Verstappen by the finish.
Told he had finished P2, with the fastest lap, a result which lifts him above Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and into second in the drivers’ championship, he could not have sounded more crestfallen.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said, bitterly. “We should have won. I f----- it up at the start. The car was amazing. Deserved more.”
Final positions after race (70 laps)
- Max Verstappen (Ned) Red Bull 1:28:20.227
- Lando Norris (Gbr) McLaren +2.219
- Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) Mercedes GP +17.790
- George Russell (Gbr) Mercedes GP +22.320
- Charles Leclerc (Mon) Ferrari +22.709
- Carlos Sainz Jr. (Spa) Ferrari +31.028
- Oscar Piastri (Aus) McLaren +33.760
- Sergio Perez (Mex) Red Bull +59.524
- Pierre Gasly (Fra) Alpine +1:02.025
- Esteban Ocon (Fra) Alpine +1:11.889
- Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Haas F1 +1:19.215
- Fernando Alonso (Spa) Aston Martin at 1 lap
- Guanyu Zhou (Chn) Kick Sauber at 1 lap
- Lance Stroll (Can) Aston Martin at 1 lap
- Daniel Ricciardo (Aus) RB at 1 lap
- Valtteri Bottas (Fin) Kick Sauber at 1 lap
- Kevin Magnussen (Den) Haas F1 at 1 lap
- Alexander Albon (Tha) Williams at 1 lap
- Yuki Tsunoda (Jpn) RB at 1 lap
- Logan Sargeant (USA) Williams at 2 laps
