James Hunt would have been ‘infuriated’ by what Lando Norris did at Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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Lando Norris failed to convert pole position for the fifth time in seven attempts this year at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix last weekend. Norris came home sixth in what looks like a decisive blow to his already-faint title hopes.

While Oscar Piastri used a ‘Fernando Alonso trick’ to pip his teammate to Sprint pole, Norris had looked like the class of the field for much of the weekend. He benefitted from McLaren’s team orders in the Sprint but didn’t require any assistance to take top spot in qualifying, seven places ahead of Piastri.

However, as so often this season, the start was his undoing. George Russell slipped past him on the short run to turn one, and kept him behind until they came into the pits on lap 29.

Had he stayed out, Norris might well have won the race. Within a few laps, there was a red flag that allowed the drivers a free tyre change.

Instead, he dropped down the order and made two mistakes when the race restarted. He needed Piastri to move aside to take sixth place, though the Australian incurred a 10-second penalty for a collision with Liam Lawson.

Meanwhile, Max Verstappen charged from 17th on the grid to win in an all-time great performance. He extends his championship lead to 62 points, meaning he only requires 24 in the next three weekends to guarantee the title.

James Hunt would have seethed at Lando Norris for not passing George Russell – Peter Windsor

Speaking on the Cameron CC YouTube channel, F1 journalist and former team member Peter Windsor lamented Norris’ failure to clear Russell. He felt that McLaren legend James Hunt would have been ‘infuriated’ watching him sit behind the Mercedes.

Norris lacked straight-line speed because McLaren fitted a higher downforce rear wing to help him in the lower-grip conditions. He didn’t seem to have the confidence on the brakes to attempt the late lunges that worked so well for Verstappen at turn one.

The late Hunt, who won the 1976 title with McLaren, used to commentate for the BBC alongside the legendary Murray Walker. And Windsor can imagine him seething at Norris for ‘messing around’.

He said: “If James Hunt was doing the BBC commentary yesterday on the Brazilian Grand Prix, I can just hear him saying to Murray Walker after three laps ‘well come on Lando, leave it two more laps you’re never going to get past Mr Russell, come on, you can do it, you’ve got a much better car, stop messing around’. I can just see him saying that.

“He would have been infuriated by Lando just sitting there. And after a while, George metaphorically just turned the mirrors off.”

Martin Brundle shoots down what Helmut Marko said about Lando Norris after Brazilian Grand Prix

Norris felt Russell deserved to win the race, but safety cars and stoppages often shape the outcome of a Grand Prix. Indeed, the deployment of Bernd Maylander was instrumental in the McLaren star’s maiden victory at the Miami GP in May.

The 24-year-old had cut Verstappen’s lead to 44 points by winning the Sprint. If anything, a Norris victory and a P6 for the Red Bull driver seemed a far more likely outcome.

That would have narrowed the gap to 26 points heading into the last three races. As it is, he may concede defeat when he faces the media in Las Vegas.

Helmut Marko feels Lewis Hamilton would be champion in Norris’ McLaren, but Martin Brundle disagrees. He dismissed it as ‘typical F1 paddock oneupmanship’.