WATCH: Lando Norris’ radio message which ruined his chances of victory at British GP

The British GP was predicted to witness a home race winner after the Brits locked out the first three grid spots. Lando Norris looked to be in prime position to take the win at the halfway mark. However, a strategic mishap in the final pitstop saw him fall from the lead to P3 by the end of the race.

Lando Norris had qualified third behind the Mercedes duo for the race on Sunday. The German marque led the grid in the initial stages, but showers saw McLaren come back into prominence. Subsequently, Norris overtook the Mercedes pair and controlled the race from there on.

However, with the crossover period hanging over the drivers, Lewis Hamilton dived into the pits for a set of softs, while Max Verstappen boxed for a set of hards. McLaren being the odd fish had the luxury of a fresh set of mediums that could have given them the upper hand, but miscommunication and confusion took the win away from them.

Lando Norris: We need to box, the soft is better now... any slick tyre.
Will Joseph[Race engineer]: We can choose a medium to counter people like [Max]Verstappen [who is on hards] or we just a soft to counter people like [Lewis]Hamilton.
Lando Norris: I think Hamilton, or you think medium? I don't mind.
Will Joseph: We are going softs.

The conversation between Lando Norris and McLaren pitwall at the British GP

While racing, the 24-year-old was constantly asked about moving onto a set of mediums or softs. The young Brit reckoned softs to be a better alternative as he would have covered Hamilton and maintained his lead. However, to rub salt in his wounds, Norris overshot his marks in the pit and delayed his pitstop, resulting in Hamilton inheriting the lead, which further led to the Dutchman overtaking him after a few laps as the Brit’s softs degraded.

Lando Norris admits that things were on a ‘knife edge’

While the McLaren outfit is not known for their strategic miracles, theoretically they had the best car in Silverstone. However, things did not go as planned for them as initially, Oscar Piastri lost heaps of time after pitting a lap later for inters, and then Norris’ mishap.

While things were tough, the former race winner admitted that the tricky conditions had made things to be on a knife edge.

It was tough. It was enjoyable. It was fun fighting these guys and these tricky conditions are always on a knife edge and you’re risking so many things but a few too many let downs today and as a team, I don’t think we did quite the job we should have done or good enough but still lovely to be on the podium here.

Lando Norris said in the post-race interview as quoted by MSN

The McLaren driver claimed he had a lot of fun fighting with drivers. However, there were too many letdowns both as a team and as a driver. Thus, he reckoned that he and his team were not up to the mark and were simply not good enough.

Despite Norris’ dejected mood, the Woking-based team is currently setting the benchmarks. Keeping this in view the 24-year-old would be optimistic about his chances at the next race as he would like to make a statement in the paddock before the start of the summer break.

In case you missed it:

• Helmut Marko claims Max Verstappen was ‘two laps short’ of challenging Lewis Hamilton for British GP victory
• Christian Horner claims Sergio Perez ‘loses a lot’ after ‘horrible’ weekend at British GP

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