Lando Norris couldn’t hide his frustration as he missed out on winning the British Grand Prix to Sir Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton ended his near three-year wait for a Formula One victory on Sunday after a thrilling race at a wet Silverstone.
But for some time, it appeared that another home favourite would be on top of the podium: Norris, with the McLaren driver overtaking Hamilton for the lead on lap 20.
He held it until lap 40 when he pitted for dry tyres, but his Mercedes rival had stopped the lap before and undercut him on fresh rubber.
The gap was still less than three seconds though but crucially McLaren had put Norris on soft tyres which wear out quicker and as his pace fell away, Max Verstappen passed him in the closing stages, with the Brit finishing third in the end.
Afterward, the 24-year-old made it known that he felt his team had bundled the strategy, but acknowledged he too had made mistakes, himself making a costly mistake as he drove through the pits, while team radio also revealed that he di not oppose to putting the softs on.
‘First of all, congrats to Lewis. That crucial decision at the end, he did a better job on. Hats off to him and Mercedes,’ Norris said post-race.
‘It was tough. It was enjoyable and fun battling these guys. As a team I don’t think we did the job we could have done.
‘At the same time, I blame myself. I hate ending in this position. I’m still happy. I will still enjoy it. I would love for everything to go perfectly but it didn’t today.’
Later in the cooldown room between the three podium finishers, Hamilton told Norris: ‘You stayed out one lap too long.’
A crestfallen Norris replied: Tell me about it.’
Hamilton added: ‘That’s probably what really made a difference. Were you on soft as well? You had two new mediums.’
Norris, who won his maiden F1 race in Miami in May, has dropped more points toVerstappen in the title race, with the gap now 84 points at the halfway stage of the season.
Speaking to Sky Sports later, Norris fumed: ‘Just the two [mistakes] at the end. What tyre to pick, and boxing too late.
‘It is based on driver feel. It’s on me, and Lewis did a better job. Lewis was on it. We were terrible on the soft, its the balance on that tyre, and Mercedes are better on the soft.
‘I’m fed up with saying I should have done better. I don’t care about should have, we should have won today. I won’t settle for anything less that we should have won the race.
‘Lost more points to Max. Won’t be happy with that.’
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