Lando Norris ‘couldn’t have won’ Belgian GP in Oscar Piastri admission

Lando Norris said he “couldn’t have won today” as he praised his McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri following the Australian’s Belgian Grand Prix victory.

Norris started on pole and was even given the bonus of a rolling start but lost the lead early on and made a number of errors in his attempt to recover.

Lando Norris says ‘shoulda, woulda, coulda’ on Belgian GP win chances

After an hour-long rain delay, the race in Spa finally got underway, but the battle for the lead was quickly won by Piastri as he overtook his team-mate down the Kemmel Straight on first real racing lap.

Norris, who has won six times from his 13 poles, had chances to recover; McLaren opted to put him on the hard tyre to Piastri’s mediums, but the Briton made a trio of errors in his attempt to catch up.

“It’s shoulda, woulda, coulda,” Norris said of his potential chance to win. “Oscar deserved it. I’m sure he made a couple of mistakes, so if he drove a perfect race, I couldn’t have won today.

“Oscar just did a good job. Nothing more to say. Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had a slipstream and got the run. So nothing to complain of. Did a better job in the beginning, and that was it. Nothing more I could do after that point.

“So yes, I mean, I’d love to be up top, but Oscar deserved it.

“I’ll review my things, but so happy for the team. Another one-two. I think our first one-two here for many, many years, so nice to bring that back to the team, and then a well-deserved result for them and for Oscar too.”

Piastri, meanwhile, admitted the overtake was “lively” but knew he had to make such a move after the disappointment of a rolling start.

“I was a bit disappointed with a rolling start because I thought that was going to take away some opportunity,” eight-time race winner Piastri said.

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“But I got a good exit out of Turn 1. Was able to stay close and then when I was that close, I knew that I was just going to lift a little bit less than Lando did and try and keep it on the track. Bit lively up over the hill, but managed to make it stick and then from there, the tow helped me out, so I’m proud of my first lap.

“I knew that Lap 1 was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race. The rest of the race we managed really well, struggling a little bit at the end.

“Maybe the medium wasn’t the best for the last five or six laps, but we had it mostly under control, which is just what I wanted.  I was pretty disappointed with myself after yesterday, but turns out, starting second as Spa is not too bad after all.”

Piastri now heads the championship by 16 points over Norris as the season heads to Hungary next weekend for its final race before the summer break.

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