Giedo van der Garde believes that Lando Norris drove a good race and he does not blame the Briton for his strategic choices in the battle with Max Verstappen. However, the former Formula 1 driver does have a point of criticism, because Van der Garde thinks that the McLaren driver could have won the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
It promised to be an exciting battle on Sunday between Norris, who was allowed to start from pole, and Verstappen, who was only two hundredths short of his British colleague in qualifying. But after a fierce battle immediately after the start, in which Norris briefly pushed Verstappen onto the grass, Norris would never really be able to threaten the Red Bull Racing driver again.
Many questioned McLaren’s strategic choices. Due to a late first pit stop, Norris gave up a lot of time on Verstappen and he also had to pass both Mercedes drivers and Ferrari man Carlos Sainz on the track, which again led to time loss. Yet Van der Garde does not blame McLaren and Norris for this. In his eyes, the Brit actually only did one thing wrong.
“He should have had a better start,” the former racing driver answers in the DRS podcast when asked what Norris could have done better. “Then he would have just been first after the first corner, then it would have been much easier for him. Then he could have driven his own race and now he had to constantly switch to a different strategy, go on the attack again and try to drive back.”
Pushing Verstappen onto the grass
According to Van der Garde, Norris let the victory slip away, especially at the start, but the 24-year-old from Bristol could have done more to keep Verstappen behind him in the first phase, despite a poorer start, according to Van der Garde . “He should have pushed Max onto the grass a little more,” says the analyst, who realizes that this would probably have resulted in Norris being punished. ‘He gave enough space now, but then you’re screwed. And then you’re in a battle with Max and then you see Russell pass by in one go and then you’re third, and that after a great Saturday. That’s just a bad thing for him. He had a good race, but he lost at the start,” said Van der Garde.
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