The director of the McLaren Formula 1 team, Andrea Stella, claims that the overtaking was too difficult at Madring for Lando Norris to win the Spanish Grand Prix.
Norris achieved pole position at the new urban circuit in Madrid and extended his lead to six seconds during the first 12 laps of the race, which turned out to be his weak point, as he found himself too far away to pit when the virtual safety car was activated.
After a pit stop that lasted seven seconds, Norris was 16 seconds behind Kimi Antonelli. By lap 48, he had reduced the gap with the Italian and second-placed Max Verstappen, but he was never able to attempt an overtaking maneuver.
Stella therefore believes that the slow pit stop did not influence Norris’s result. ‘Probably, Lando would have come out the same way behind [George] Russell,’ he pointed out. ‘And even if he hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been possible to overtake Verstappen and Antonelli.
So, we are definitely noting that there is a lot of work to do in our operation. And this is not the first time we have had a slow pit stop, but in terms of the race itself, it made no difference.’
The Madring circuit could bear part of the blame. Sunday’s race recorded only 10 overtaking attempts, the lowest mark of the 2026 season so far, including fewer than Monaco, which had 11. Of those 10 attempts, four involved [Valtteri Bottas](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/valtteri-bottas/13082/) or [Lance Stroll](https://www.motorsport.com/driver/lance-stroll/20950/) who were overtaken at the back of the grid.
Turn 5 was the most intense braking zone, but it followed a corner, making it harder to brake and it was too narrow to allow easy maneuvers.
‘As for overtakes, it’s a shame that it’s so difficult,’ added Stella. ‘It simply requires a significant time difference to be able to overtake. I think what F1 needs to review is whether modifications to the circuit are necessary to introduce the possibility of overtaking.
‘Because, at this moment, the reality is that the straight may be long enough, but there is absolutely no possibility that two cars can enter [corner] 5 together. So it is basically impossible to attempt an overtake, which is a shame, because I think if overtaking had been possible today, we would have seen Lando reclaiming the lead, as the pace advantage was significant.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
