Norris reveals benefit of McLaren's Spanish GP plan: 'Made my life easier'

After setting a blistering pole time in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, Lando Norris finished in second by just two seconds. In an eventful race for the Brit, Max Verstappen, eventual race winner, and George Russell overtook him at the first corner. Norris then spent the rest of the race on an offset strategy for those around him.

Was the tyre offset the correct decision for Norris?

The race was reminiscent of Imola and Canada, where Max Verstappen triumphed over a charging Lando Norris by just a few seconds on both occasions. For Norris, it always feels like he is chasing down Verstappen at the end of a Grand Prix, and unfortunately for the Brit, it hasn't been enough. "I gave myself a good four or five laps of tyre advantage. It's impossible to know. No one can say whether it's the correct or incorrect thing. It made my life much easier to overtake George. I was racing George until halfway through the race, and once I passed him, then I was in my own race and was trying to race against Max," explained the 2024 Miami Grand Prix winner.

"I know people had the same comments about our strategy last weekend in Canada on the second pit stop onto the slick tyre. I think our strategy was better. I overtook George. I overcut him, and he got past me because he was quicker, not because of any other reason. The team did a good job. The strategy is very strong and has been for a lot of the year. We made a couple of mistakes here and there, but I think today we're probably the best strategy, so I'm happy with that."

Norris learning how to extract the most out of the MCL38 

Norris, who has now finished on an F1 podium 19 times in his career, is feeling much more confident in his MCL38. "I don't know if maybe I pushed a bit too much in the beginning and struggled a little bit more at the end. It's very difficult to judge these things. Difficult to describe, but I was feeling good. I was confident in the car which was the main thing. I understood how to drive it and get the most out of it," he said.

"I'm still improving in that area. That's something I've not been super comfortable with and the knowledge of how to extract the most out of this car. This weekend's been a very good step forward I think and hopefully, I would have to carry that on into the next few," concluded Norris, who will be hoping to fight for the race victory next weekend in Austria.