Lando Norris knew he was on the back foot coming into the tenth round of the 2026 Formula One season. The team had decided to change the world champion’s battery; as the new unit exceeded the number permissible for the year, Norris suffered a ten-place grid drop.
After the first round of push laps in Q3, Norris was quickest, although he could not improve on his second run and was pipped to pole by Kimi Antonelli, with Max Verstappen starting in second place. Consequently, Norris was relegated to thirteenth place as the grid formed up.
Charging Through the Chaos
George Russell’s crash at the Les Combes chicane provided an opportunity to make up some quick places, dispatching both Alpines and the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg. By lap 12, Norris had made his way onto the back of the leaders and was in P6, less than ten seconds behind the race leader.
McLaren had decided to start Norris on the hard tyre and planned for him to run long. The rest of the front-runners were all on the medium and expected to pit earlier than Lando. On lap 20, a virtual safety car saw the Ferrari pair, along with Oscar Piastri, take the opportunity for a cheap pit stop.
Disaster in the Pit Lane
Norris ran on for another 10 laps before pitting for the medium tyre—a mandatory requirement to run both the hard and medium compounds. But all was not well with the McLaren tyre gun on the rear left, which meant Lando was stationary for almost 8 seconds, some 5.5 seconds longer than an average pit stop.
He returned to the race in eighth place with just 14 laps to the chequered flag, on much fresher rubber than his rivals. While he made quick work of the Audi of Gabriel Bortoletto and the Racing Bull of Arvid Lindblad, he was still some way behind the leading five. Norris finished in P6, less than a second behind Isack Hadjar, who was running older hard tyres he had taken during the virtual safety car.
Paddock Post-Mortem and Downforce Damage
Just over four seconds up the road was Oscar Piastri, who had suffered damage early in the race after contact with Charles Leclerc. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed post-race that this cost the Australian somewhere between 5 and 10 points of downforce, meaning he degraded his tyres much more quickly than if the car had been in prime condition.
Such was Norris’s rate of catching Hadjar that without his lengthy pit stop, he would have certainly finished ahead of both the Red Bull driver and his flagging teammate, Piastri. Despite the disappointment, Lando was bullish in the media pen after the chequered flag.
“I don’t think we could have made our race any more difficult today,” he smiled. “I think the pace was good enough for a podium or even to win, so it’s a shame.” The win was a long shot, but it seems the McLaren decision not to pit Norris under the virtual safety car may have cost him a podium.
The Cost of the Strategy Gamble
Changing tyres at Spa-Francorchamps under a virtual safety car gives a driver an advantage of around 8 seconds compared to a regular racing pit stop. That time saved would have placed Norris ahead of Max Verstappen, who finished third.
Of course, there would have been some trade-off in terms of lap time, with the medium tyre then being forced to run ten laps longer. Yet there is evidence that when the leading cars stopped on lap 20 to ditch the mediums on which they started, most of them were getting faster each lap as the fuel load came down.
The cooler temperatures meant there was little thermal degradation to the medium tyre, and its longevity was far greater than expected. Add into the mix that Norris would have only been asked to deliver ten more laps on the medium tyre than the front-runners—in a car much lighter due to the reduced fuel load—and it is probable he would have easily made the extra laps required at a pace quick enough to catch and pass Verstappen.
Eyeing Redemption in Budapest
“We probably should have taken the VSC,” said Norris candidly. “It would’ve been a long stint on the medium, but I’m going to save more time by boxing under VSC than I am going five laps longer [on the hard].” Looking at the numbers, between the lost time from bypassing the safety car window and the mistake by McLaren at his pit stop, Norris’s assertion that a podium was on the cards is no wild claim.
McLaren made a leap forward in pace following their first big upgrade of the season in Miami but have since fallen back as Ferrari and Red Bull have introduced theirs. Next time out in Budapest brings the next big McLaren upgrade for the MCL40 at a track where the team previously claimed a 1-2 finish, with Norris victorious over teammate Piastri.
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The Judge, a nom de plume of an experienced F1 journalist and site founder with long-standing sources across the paddock. With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
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