McLaren: Lando Norris “could have been more patient” in Max Verstappen battle

McLaren Formula 1 team principal Andrea Stella believes Lando Norris “could have been more patient” while battling with Max Verstappen for the lead on the opening lap of the Miami Grand Prix.

Verstappen pulled away cleanly from pole position at the start of the race in Miami but locked up under braking for Turn 1 and ran wide into the right-hander, bringing the McLaren of fellow front-row starter Norris into play.

But Norris ran off the track as he battled with Verstappen into Turns 2-3, dropping as far down as sixth place while the Red Bull driver held on to the lead.

The incident between the two was investigated by the stewards, but no action was deemed necessary.

Although Norris was able to recoup lost ground and eventually pass Verstappen for what would be second place, the chance of a first F1 win since the season opener in Australia effectively ended with that clash.

The incident on lap one drew the ire of Norris, who claimed that drivers always face a “crash or don’t pass” while battling with Verstappen.

But McLaren chief Stella believes Norris could have handled the situation in a different way, knowing just how quick the MCL39 was around Miami over the weekend.

The Italian engineer believes Norris could have bided his time behind Verstappen on a day where its two drivers finished over 35s clear of the competition, led by Mercedes rival George Russell.

"With the benefit of hindsight, let's say that considering the situation in corner one-two, it could have been better for Lando to just lift and make sure that he could keep the second position because the car, again, with the benefit of hindsight, we see that he was very fast and he would certainly have passed Max, like Oscar, and then later Lando was in condition to do,” Stella said.

"So I think like every situation in racing, you have to approach with the mindset of reviewing where the opportunities lie. And I think in this case, Lando could have been a little bit more patient."

After recovering from his off-track excursion, Norris engaged in another fierce battle with Verstappen on lap 17, but ran wide at Turn 11 while passing the four-time world champion.

The Briton had no option but to give up the position and it wasn’t until the following lap that he could complete a clean pass on him to snatch second.

Teammate Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, had a much easier time getting the better of Verstappen.

On lap 14, he started piling pressure on the Dutchman on the start/finish straight, forcing him to go deep into the first corner. Piastri then carefully glided his car into first place before extending an eight-second advantage out front, giving Norris no real chance of chasing him once he found a way around Verstappen.

Stella doesn’t think there was any difference in the way Piastri and Norris fought for the lead with Verstappen, who is infamous for not giving an inch in wheel-to-wheel battles.

"Both drivers were approaching the overtaking in a way that had Lando not gone off by a few centimetres in corner 11, he would have completed the overtaking in what was a similar time. So I don't think we should over-read too much into situations. I think it's, like I said before, it's a matter sometimes of a fraction of a second or a fraction of a metre.

"The big time loss came because of having to give back the position. So I think in terms of overtaking manoeuvre and precision and determination, I don't see that there's any difference between both drivers."