Last month in Miami, the safety car proved to be the lifeline that led to his first Grand Prix victory. However, in Montreal, it likely cost him the win, according to Lando Norris. Despite finishing second behind Max Verstappen and ahead of George Russell in the Canadian GP, Norris isn’t complaining. “Wow, that was a wild race,” he exclaimed.
On the semi-wet track, Norris seemed to be flying on the intermediate tires. He was by far the fastest man on the track, with even Verstappen unable to keep up with him in Red Bull’s RB20. “We were incredibly fast in the first two stints,” the Brit admitted. He lost the lead when the safety car was deployed following Logan Sargeant’s now almost customary Sunday afternoon blunder. The American lost control of his Williams in turn 4 and ended up in the wall.
The incident didn’t play into Norris’s hands. After a series of pit stops by Verstappen and Russell, he re-entered the track in third place. “Bad luck,” believes the Brit. “But something always happens in Montreal, right? To be honest, I think I drove a perfect race despite that. I mean, it was so chaotic… These kinds of races are very stressful in the car. Max didn’t make any mistakes, I’m happy with second place. The safety car helped me in Miami, not here. But you won’t hear me complaining. We’re close to Red Bull, we can fight with them.”
Russell, on the other hand, wasn’t as optimistic about the potential of the Mercedes after the race. He claimed to have a bitter taste left from the race in Canada. After all, he failed to capitalize on the pole. “This feels a bit like a missed opportunity,” Russell stated. “We were very fast at the beginning, I made a few mistakes with the slicks and paid a high price for it. But we were in the mix for the win, we had the speed to race against Max. That, the podium finish, and the first pole of this year are the positive things from this weekend.”
