Norris and those 7 nightmare seconds: lost 40 points on Verstappen

The new couple at the top

In Barcelona, ​​for the fourth time in the last five Grand Premsi, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris finished the race in first and second position. On the last three occasions in which this has happened – Imola, Montreal and, of course, Barcelona – the Dutchman has always won the race, but he prevailed by very narrow margins. On the Santerno circuit, success literally arrived in a sprint, with seven tenths aheadwhile in Canada and Spain the gap between the reigning world champion and his friend-rival was respectively 3.8 and 2.2 seconds.

Overall, in these three races, Norris was therefore just 6.7 seconds behind the three-time world championwhich however turned into good 20 fewer points won. If the results had always been reversed, with Norris ahead of the Red Bull standard bearer in all three GPs considered, the delta would be 40 points and the young McLaren talent would now instead find himself 69 points away from #1 it would be at -29with a long and very balanced championship ahead of him.

So many missed opportunities

In sport and in life, history is not written with ‘ifs’, but it’s clear that McLaren left some important opportunities on the table. In Canada the Safety Car, which had helped the Woking team win the Miami race, instead ‘collaborated’ in Verstappen’s success, but both in Imola and in Catalonia the papaya team ‘woke up late’, looking for a comeback at the end of the race which however was made in vain by the management qualities of Verstappen’s vehicle. Norris himself, who appeared very disappointed after last Sunday’s race, admitted that now the placings are no longer enough and what matters is the victory.

The feeling is that the historic English team, fantastic in moving from the last position on the grid to the role of reference team in about a year and a half, is still deficient in the tactical management of a match to be won at all costs. Furthermore, Norris’ starting error in Catalonia obviously didn’t help the team. Perfect execution, on the other hand, is Red Bull’s strong pointas Verstappen reiterated while celebrating his seventh success in ten GPs.

The last challenge for Stella

This is the last step they still have to climb in Woking to really dream of competing for the title. If Andrea Stella succeeds in this aim, McLaren could really find itself in the position, in the coming years, to regain that world championship throne that has been missing since 2008. The ingredients are all there, after all it is ‘only’ a matter of 7 seconds: the difference between victory and defeat.