Lando Norris could not catch Max Verstappen to make it three victories in a row for McLaren in 2025 at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Despite starting from second on the grid, Verstappen got a better start off the line and managed to hold first place from Norris in the first couple of corners.
There would be drama later on in the race when Norris and Verstappen pitted on the same lap, with Red Bull’s stop slightly slower and enabling the Briton to go side-by-side at pit exit.
As the exit road narrowed, Norris had to take to the grass and lost crucial time to the Dutchman after their respective stops. Racing driver Alice Powell thinks Norris made a mistake taking to the grass, as it prevented him from putting pressure on Verstappen during the crucial tyre-warm-up phase.
Anthony Davidson thinks McLaren should have prioritised putting Norris in clean air, knowing that it is a strength of their car over the Red Bull.
Discussing the race on the Cameron CC podcast, Peter Windsor pointed out one thing he thought Norris’ engineer did that was irritating.
Peter Windsor thinks Lando Norris’ engineer did one thing that was ‘ludicrous’ in Japanese GP
Norris often likes to receive a lot of feedback from his engineer Will Joseph during the races, as he gives him a run down of the positions and various other updates on the race.
Their partnership somewhat differs from the love-hate relationship between Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase, but shows how approaches can change but yield results.
Windsor noticed something that Norris’ engineer did during the Japanese GP that he felt was unnecessary, given how the race panned out.
“One of the most irritating moments of the race was when Lando’s race engineer got on the radio trying to give him encouragement, and he said something along the lines of ‘You’re doing really well Lando, you’ve got the pace here and doing a much better job of tyre management than Max’,” said Windsor.
“A) How does he know that because he’s not driving the Red Bull, b) For anyone to say he was doing a better job than Max Verstappen in an inferior car is beyond comprehension. I think what he meant to say was McLaren does a better job than Red Bull on tyres, but to say Lando was doing better than Max was ludicrous.”
Lando Norris could not catch Max Verstappen due to F1’s dirty air problem
Throughout the 53 laps Norris was unable to get close to Verstappen without putting extra stress on his tyres, which would have impacted his ability to extend his first stint.
The return of F1’s dirty air problem is to blame, as drivers experience turbulent air from the lead car through high-speed corners, causing their cars to slide.
F1’s current regulations were designed to eliminate this phenomenon, but as car development has evolved it has became more of a problem.
The FIA has attempted to clamp down on flexible wings, but Fred Vasseur believes it could be a season-long problem for F1 in 2025.
