Lando Norris has been told by McLaren not to change his relentless quest for improvement after the British driver publicly blamed himself for throwing away the chance of a win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Norris had started from pole in Barcelona but was passed at turn one on the opening lap by both Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who went on to win, and the Mercedes of George Russell. It was a key moment in the race as his McLaren then lost time behind Russell as Verstappen opened up a lead.

Despite a race-long chase that proved gripping, with Norris demonstrating the McLaren had the pace to beat the Red Bull, the damage had been done and Verstappen took the flag only 2.2sec in front of the McLaren.

Afterwards the 24-year-old was blunt in his assessment. “I think we quite easily had the best car out there today,” he said. “I just didn’t do a good enough job off the line, and then that one thing cost me everything.”

The McLaren team principal, Andrea Stella, admired Norris’s commitment to improving his performance. “That Lando might be harsh on himself in terms of the responsibility, that is just a style aspect [of his character],” he said. “Some other drivers would have complained: ‘In Barcelona the straight [to the first corner] is too long.’ I like that people look at their own opportunities before thinking that the world is against you.”

Norris is very self-critical, analysing his performances, a character trait that has enabled him to improve consistently as his career has progressed. He took his first F1 win in Miami last month and, with McLaren demonstrating they can now fight for wins, he is demanding more from himself and the team.

Stella was emphatic that McLaren would not be attempting to temper that characteristic and noted that such a close finish after the early Verstappen domination of the season suggested that F1 was genuinely competitive again in 2024.

“We don’t want to react to the style of Lando being tough with himself,” he said. “Lando drove very well the entire weekend. If he is upset for a P2 finish, two seconds from Max, this is really good news for everyone including F1. It means we have races and it means, with little details, we can finally have some different winners than Max.”

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The team delivered a great performance despite the fact the motorhome had to be evacuated because of a fire on Saturday and remained out of use on Sunday. The fire took place in the kitchen area but its cause has yet to be established. The drivers were relocated to the team’s engineering unit and McLaren personnel went on to also use the motorhome of the FIA, the sport’s governing body, and were eating in the garage.

Stella paid tribute to the generosity of the entire F1 community after the incident. “The assistance, the solidarity, the sympathy, the support we received from each and every one of all the other teams, F1 and the FIA, gave us genuine emotions, we were touched by this level of support,” he said.

“The sense of community that we have in this paddock, sometimes we forget it because we are here to compete with each other, but when it manifests itself in this way we should remember this is the case, the community and the support we have received.”

Source: theguardian.com