Jolyon Palmer thinks Lando Norris was ‘very unlucky’ during the Canadian Grand Prix due to a mistake from McLaren costing their star Formula 1 driver his shot at the win.
The 24-year-old had to settle for second place in Montreal on Sunday as Norris recorded his fifth podium of the season. McLaren have also now seen the Briton claim the silver spoon in three of the first nine rounds. But another win was on the cards after winning the Miami GP.
Norris led in the early phases of the Canadian GP after streaking clear of Max Verstappen on a drying track. The Bristol-born gem bided his time while the Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve was at his wettest before passing the Red Bull ace and George Russell after keeping his tyres alive.
Jolyon Palmer feels Lando Norris was ‘unlucky’ with how McLaren handled the safety car
Norris even created a lead of more than nine seconds over Verstappen by Lap 25. But a spin for Williams racer Logan Sargeant at Turn 6 left the 23-year-old stranded and necessitated a safety car. Yet the stewards also waited before intervening to see if Sargeant could continue.
By the time the safety car entered the track, Norris was already approaching the entrance to the pit lane, though. McLaren had also not told their driver to pit if the stewards called for a safety car. So, Norris continued as Verstappen and Russell pitted for new intermediate tyres.
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McLaren failing to act more decisively left Palmer with the sense the team cost Norris a shot at winning the Canadian GP. While the Briton was also simply unlucky to catch the safety car earlier and lose time before stopping, he had a chance to pit if McLaren pre-empted events.
Palmer told the official F1 website: “McLaren were unsure what to do when it was deployed for Sargeant’s crash. And whilst Lando was very unlucky with his positioning at the safety car call, it could still have been possible to pit had the team or driver been 100% decisive and a step ahead of the game.
“In fairness to McLaren, Red Bull also didn’t have the magic solution up their sleeve, and it took a good bit of conflab between team and driver to decide to pit for new intermediates. But they were lucky to have that luxury as they had the back straight and 11 more seconds than Norris to decide.”
McLaren cost Lando Norris twice with their pit stop indecision at the Canadian GP
Norris returned to the circuit in third place, dropping behind Verstappen and Russell, after stopping behind the safety car. He even almost fell behind teammate Oscar Piastri with the Glastonbury-raised talent only just pipping the 23-year-old to arriving at the safety car line.
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But had McLaren pre-empted the safety car with Sargeant’s Williams sat stationary after his spin, Norris could have retained the lead of the Canadian GP by pitting at his first chance to. Instead, he had to work his way back through but Norris’ shot at the win was not over there.
Further indecision from McLaren during the second round of pit stops ultimately cost Norris his chance to win the Canadian GP. The Woking team sought to try and stretch his margin to Verstappen before switching onto slick tyres. But they waited until after the crossover point.
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