The team principal of McLaren, Andrea Stella, pointed out that the difficulty in overtaking at the Madring circuit prevented Lando Norris from winning the Spanish Grand Prix.
Norris secured pole position at the new urban track in Madrid and started the race leading with a six-second margin in the first twelve laps. This advantage proved to be a double-edged sword, as he was unable to capitalize on the call of the virtual safety car to make his stop.
After a tire change that lasted seven seconds, Norris found himself sixteen seconds behind driver Kimi Antonelli. Despite closing the gap and catching up to Antonelli, as well as second-placed Max Verstappen, he could not execute any effective overtaking maneuvers.
Stella emphasized that the stop did not affect Norris’s final result. ‘Probably, Lando would have exited behind George Russell anyway, and overtaking Verstappen and Antonelli would have been a difficult challenge,’ he commented.
The Madring circuit has proven to be a complicated arena, with only ten overtakes recorded during the race, numbers that place it as the lowest of the 2026 season, below Monaco. The next lap was the most challenging, with a narrow layout that hindered overtaking maneuvers.
Stella expressed his disappointment with the situation, stating: ‘It’s a pity that it is so difficult to overtake. It seems that a very large time difference per lap is needed to be able to pass. Even if the straight is long enough, there is no way for two cars to enter the T5 together. It is practically impossible to overtake, which is a shame, as with better conditions Lando could have regained the lead, given his superiority in pace.’
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_83fae555c551690a50a79acb809ad6500e9c1f22