Oh, the irony!
Lando Norris found exactly the right words for his team on the cooldown lap in Madrid.
“We were too quick, that’s all it was.”
That’s literally what happened, isn’t it? Lance Stroll parked his Aston Martin at Turn 20 on lap 13 – he had a brake problem, not that he’d simply had enough of the race, by the way – and Norris was just a few corners away from the scene, with a comfortable gap of around six seconds to Kimi Antonelli.
Had he been just three or four seconds slower on that first stint on mediums, he would’ve had time to dive into the pitlane moments later, when the track marshals realised they would still need to push the green car into a safer area. And, well, Lance probably could’ve made a bigger effort himself to park it somewhere more appropriate, as there was plenty of space. But perhaps he really had had enough of that car and was simply too tempted to jump out as soon as possible.
Anyway, it was what it was. Those few seconds defined the winner of the inaugural Spanish GP at the Madring.
Rui Marques had no other option than to hit the VSC button – and unleash a chain of stops. Funnily enough, even with McLaren’s slow pitstop, Norris would still have had enough of a margin over Kimi to stay in the lead had he pitted right then. But it just wasn’t meant to be.
The six-second gap Norris had over Antonelli effectively killed his chances of winning the race. He had just passed the pitlane entry – and two seconds later had to slow down to comply with the virtual safety car rules. The timing worked out so that he simply didn’t make it back around the Madring before officials moved the Aston Martin to a safer place. Almost the entire field, meanwhile, made cheap pitstops during that window – and Norris had to change tyres under green flag.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Rudy Carezzevoli / Getty Images
If only he had been just a touch slower in those opening laps, he would’ve been among them, come back out in the lead – and cruised to the win.
Even Antonelli himself didn’t feel quite right about it.
“It’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good,” the Italian conceded when he jumped out of the car and was handed a microphone to speak to James Hinchcliffe and tell the world about his race.
Hinchcliffe’s colleague on the F1 broadcast team, Jolyon Palmer, had said something earlier in the week about Antonelli’s luck this year: Kimi would have a good chance of winning the lottery with the way things have been going lately. And it’s hard to disagree that on Sunday in Madrid he hit the jackpot by accident.
That’s surely not to say he doesn’t deserve to lead the championship or win races – you’d need to be mad to believe that – but life certainly isn’t testing him as much as it did last year.
Norris, though, was the real best driver of the weekend – pretty much as he has been ever since McLaren came back to life with its new upgrade in Hungary, Monza excluded. It should’ve been a third win for Norris in four races. Too late anyway to call it a proper title hunt, but he would’ve got a few lightheaded observers excited for sure.
“Very unlucky today, guys,” were Norris’ words as he cruised back to the pitlane. “We deserved the win quite easily, so a big thank you. Didn’t think we were going to have a chance here, but we should have won. Well done guys. Keep it going.”
And added: “I’ll keep delivering.”
How about that for a show of confidence?
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images
He rightly pointed out in the press conference that this VSC situation wasn’t the first time someone had lost a race like that – while also admitting he had benefited from luck himself in the past. He won his first race in Miami not least because of a timely safety car, after all. So what comes around goes around. If not this time, he’ll surely win more races this year.
And what a transformation he’s gone through since that Miami win two-and-a-half years ago.
The Lando “No wins” Norris from before that Miami victory was full of self-reflection and self-deprecation. That “I’ll keep delivering” thrown into the radio message says quite a lot about how much he now understands his own strengths.
There will still be those who say his title last year perhaps wasn’t fully deserved – because there was at least one driver on the grid in 2025 who did a better job. But these last few races have been Norris in his absolute prime.
There’s a lot of talk these days about how F1 2026 has reduced the difference drivers can make. Max Verstappen made headlines last week after his BBC interview, pointing to Liam Lawson’s example to demonstrate how the best drivers aren’t able to make as much of a difference.
That’s quite a mean thing to say, but Max has certainly got a point. Lawson was nowhere near him over those two memorable weekends last year – and all of a sudden he’s scoring points in seemingly the same circumstances. That doesn’t take the wider context into account, though. But it can probably live as a theory.
Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Simon Galloway / LAT Images via Getty Images
George Russell – as he’s now forced to come up with explanations week in, week out – talked about driving styles during his 10-minute session with the world’s media on Thursday. He named names. Lewis Hamilton’s revival this year must have the same roots as Kimi’s dominance, he seems to have suggested. They have similar driving styles, he alluded, and he added Lando to that list of beneficiaries of the changing regulations too.
But Norris rather trashes both theories.
It’s not only this year that he has started making Oscar Piastri look average. That was already happening in 2025. This year, the gap is just becoming bigger and bigger. The Australian is completely covered by Norris, with the difference between them hardly capable of being clearer – and perhaps larger too.
Because it’s simply too difficult to think of many standout Piastri performances this year, unless you count his brilliant acting in Google Pixel’s newest ad, in which he says: “Watch Oscar Piastri set fastest lap.”
There haven’t been many good laps from Piastri this year, though – and there have been a ton from Norris.
So something doesn’t quite add up about Verstappen’s and Russell’s theories, after all. Norris is proving both wrong: he can make the difference. And it’s not just about driving style.
Let’s be honest, too. He’s out of the championship battle this year. There’s not going to be a comeback – because things like Verstappen’s run last year don’t just happen every other Tuesday. And even if Toto “glass half empty” Wolff says it’s too early for Antonelli to think about the championship, his marketing office is probably already in full swing planning the merchandise release and a championship tour for the young Italian superstar.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Federico Basile
So there’s nothing to actually be sad about with this VSC. Norris only lost a win – one he doesn’t desperately need now, and one he will almost certainly get again very soon.
The most important thing for him is that his team seems to be fully back at it again. There’s something about that organisation under Andrea Stella that is impossible not to be impressed by. The way McLaren today deals with car development, eliminating weaknesses one by one, is an example of just how efficient its processes have become.
And Norris now gives the impression of being the ideal product of that McLaren. A guy with enormous potential who has been tuned and improved over time, engineered into the force he is now.
The F1 2026 season is basically over. With an 81-point advantage over his closest rival – who isn’t even Norris – Antonelli isn’t going to let it slip away.
But for 2027, with McLaren finding its form again and Norris carrying this much confidence, it’s surely going to be a lot closer.
Being too quick will win Norris a lot more races in the future than it will cost him.
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