McLaren’s Lando Norris was left fuming after a belated pit stop denied the reigning world champion a potential victory in Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix.
Italian teenager Kimi Antonelli secured his third-consecutive victory of the season, joined on the podium by McLaren duo Norris and Oscar Piastri, who crossed second and third respectively.
On Lap 26, Norris was undercut by Antonelli after the Mercedes driver, who at the time was trailing by two seconds, produced an impeccable outlap and faster pit stop. The duo were practically neck-and-neck when Norris emerged from the pits the following lap, with Antonelli ultimately taking the lead.
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After the race, Norris muttered on the team radio: “F***’s sake, how did we not win this? We should have won.”
He continued during the post-match presentation: “We just got undercut – no excuses other than that. We got undercut, we should have boxed first. Kimi did a good job. Hat’s off to Merc and Kimi, they drove a good race.
“I’m gutted to miss out on a win here in Miami – I think it was possible today. But not the pace to get past him in the end, so we take it on the chin. But it’s still a positive weekend altogether.”
Later in the cooldown room, Norris asked Antonelli: “Where were you when I came out of the pits, I couldn’t see you?”
Antonelli indicated that we right next to Norris, adding: “I almost crashed into you”.
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Lando Norris of Great Britain. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
Norris continued venting his frustration while speaking to Sky Sports: “We should have boxed first, simple as that.
“We just have to be honest and say we should have boxed before, we shouldn’t have been waiting.
“We have to go revive things … we could have done more to defend for the win.”
McLaren boss Andrea Stella was asked whether the team was too conservative with their pit stop, perhaps focusing on the threat of weather rather than the race.
“We had an opportunity to win, 100 per cent,” he told Sky Sports.
“We were chased by a car that was a little bit faster than us, we were monitoring the weather at the same time and when Kimi pitted his out lap was just mega. We couldn’t match it with our performance in the in lap, we lost possibly a little bit of time in the execution.
“We could have done better but we are very happy. We take all the positives out of this weekend. We are there, there is some new stuff coming for the coming races so exciting time ahead of us.”
The F1 season resumes with the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Sunday, May 24.