McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: “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.
“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.”
Norris was further delayed in racing Verstappen because he passed him at Turn 11 by going off track and had to give the place back, before regaining it for good the following lap.
Stella said he saw no difference in his two drivers’ approaches to racing Verstappen.
“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.”
Once he passed Verstappen, Norris closed on Piastri in the second stint, but ran out of time to close the gap.