Peter Windsor ‘shocked’ by key decision Lando Norris made during the Sao Paulo Grand Prix

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Lando Norris missed out on converting his pole position for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after making one key decision during the race.

The McLaren driver lost out to George Russell at the start and spent much of the race’s first half behind him as the rain hit the track.

Norris closed in on the Mercedes driver but was unable to make a move stick, prompting him to ask McLaren to pit him for a new set of Intermediate tyres. The rain was starting to get heavier at this stage, but the team wanted him to stay out due to the traffic.

Charles Leclerc had pitted a few laps earlier and got caught up in the midfield, so it made sense to stay out. Norris was adamant that a pit stop was the best option and when the Safety Car came out due to the conditions it looked like they made a cheap pit stop, but this was later upgraded to a red flag due to a crash by Franco Colapinto.

This enabled all the cars that had not pitted to swap tyres in the pit lane, effectively consigning Norris and Russell, who also pitted, to their respective positions in 4th and 5th. Peter Windsor was ‘shocked’ that Norris decided to pit when speaking on his YouTube channel.

Peter Windsor ‘shocked’ that Lando Norris pressured McLaren to pit him

Radio transcripts from the race show that McLaren engineer, Will Joseph, warned Norris that pitting when he asked in an attempt to undercut others would not work due to the traffic.

McLaren decided to pit him anyway after they saw Russell make a stop, but this lost their track position to Max Verstappen, who fought up from P17 on the grid and the two Alpines.

Things went from bad to worse for Norris when he lost places at the restart, which dropped him behind Leclerc in P6. Windsor believes Norris made a fatal error when deciding to pit as the conditions worsened.

“When Lando Norris asked McLaren to pit to get a new set of inters early and gain track position, they said ‘No Lando it’s too early, stay out. I think the McLaren pit wall was absolutely right, but Lando kept at them and I was surprised and shocked by that,” said Windsor.

“Although he doesn’t have Max’s early turn-in, I thought that he would make up for the McLaren being good and would be the second to last to switch for new tyres. I don’t understand, it wasn’t a strategy call from McLaren they just wanted to please him. He should’ve stayed out because his tyres were not that different to Verstappen.”

Lando Norris says George Russell ‘deserved’ Sao Paulo GP victory instead of Max Verstappen

Norris admitted that he made too many mistakes to deserve the victory in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, while Verstappen put in a performance that conjured up images of Ayrton Senna according to Karun Chandhok.

The Briton felt that George Russell was more deserving of the win when speaking to media after the race, after struggling in the second phase.

Norris also admitted that his race was undone by the red flag because of the free pit stop it enabled others to make, therefore giving them the advantage at the end.

Norris is now 62 points behind Verstappen heading into the final rounds of the season, while McLaren held on to their lead in the Constructors’ Championship.