The 2024 Belgian Grand Prix was nothing short of a strategy game. Undercuts, Overcuts, and even a hail mary that saw George Russell take the win. But Lando Norris was forced to settle for a P6 finish behind Max Verstappen who started in P11. Norris blames himself for this poor result.
Even in the last race in Hungary, Lando started on pole position and could have gone on to win the race. However, a bad start saw him lose the lead to his teammate who went on to win the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris admits fault for poor race starts
After the Belgian Grand Prix, Lando spoke to the media where he said:
“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races just because of stupid stuff – mistakes and bad starts, Turn 1 now. I don’t know why. It’s just silly things. It’s not even difficult stuff. It’s just… Turn 1, trying to stay out of trouble, trying to make sure there’s a gap and not get hit, and then I put myself off the track. Just some stupid things. The pace is good, the team are doing an amazing job so I’m happy.”
Despite his bad starts in the last couple of races, McLaren has proven to be one of the fastest cars on the grid. Probably even faster than the Red Bull.
“In a way I feel like I just don’t want to take a break – I just want to continue because we’re in good form. Even today I feel like the pace was very strong. The last two, three races I’ve just not clicked as much as I needed to and given up a lot of points, so hopefully I can come back strong.”
Given that McLaren is leading in terms of pace, Norris doesn’t want to go 3 weeks without racing. He would rather continue this moment and try to close the gap to Max Verstappen and Red Bull in the Championships.
McLaren is now only 43 points behind Red Bull in the Championship
Thanks to McLaren’s upgrades in Miami and Imola, the team has been able to challenge for race wins on a more consistent basis. Even in Belgium, Oscar Piastri finished only a second behind George Russell. A few more laps and he could have won the race.
Thanks to these results, McLaren has closed in on Red Bull in the Constructors’ Championship by just 43 points. A few more weekends with McLarens leading, we could see a new leader on the table. One of the main reasons for McLaren catching up to Red Bull is Sergio Perez.
🚨 | Lando Norris is not happy with his race starts in the last few races.
“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races just because of stupid stuff – mistakes and bad starts, Turn 1 now. I don’t know why. It’s just silly things. It’s not even difficult…
— Motorsport Hour (@MotorsportHour) July 28, 2024
Every weekend, Max Verstappen is out there fighting to win the race. At the very least, Perez needs to be in contention for a podium. However, the Mexican driver has not even been able to finish in the top 7 since the Miami Grand Prix.
During the Belgian GP, Perez had a positive qualifying where he started on the first row of the grid. Despite this, he only finished P8 in the race.
If Red Bull is not able to fix this issue, McLaren will have a good chance of winning the Constructors’ Championship.
Rohit Kumar 
Sara Chavan