Lando Norris has called for changes to Formula 1’s Virtual Safety Car (VSC) rules after he was denied a likely victory at the Spanish Grand Prix by the timing of a caution period.
Norris had led from pole and built a comfortable advantage over Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli before a VSC was deployed following Lance Stroll’s crash at Turn 20.
However, Norris had already passed the pit entry when the VSC came out, leaving him unable to pit under the reduced-speed conditions. His rivals, who were more than four seconds behind, were able to stop and gain a significant advantage.
By the time Norris completed another lap and entered the pits, the VSC had ended and normal racing had resumed. A slow seven-second tyre change added to his losses, leaving him fifth before he eventually recovered to finish third.
Antonelli went on to win the race ahead of Max Verstappen, claiming his eighth victory of the season and extending his championship lead to 81 points.
Norris said the situation was unfair because he was effectively punished for being the race leader when the VSC was deployed.
“I was just unlucky. I was the only one on the grid that doesn’t get a pit stop, so I lose 20 seconds on the whole grid.
“It’s just out of my control, it’s just out of their control. It is a rule that should not define a whole race.”
The McLaren driver said the rules should ensure that a VSC period does not give some drivers a major advantage simply because of where they are on track when it is deployed.
“A race should be won by the guy who can put in the best performance, who maybe takes a risk by going long in a stint,” he said.
“It’s unfair but it has happened in the past. Others have won from it. I’ve probably won from it in the past. But I don’t think many people have lost a race win over it so it is frustrating.”
Norris said the issue had previously been discussed during drivers’ briefings, with one possible solution being to keep the safety car or VSC in place for at least another lap.
“We have spoken about it in the past in drivers’ briefings and said you should leave it [a safety car] out for at least a lap.
“So then it is equal for everyone. Today, I was the only one who lost out. And I lost out on about 20 seconds of race time and that is not how it should be.”
McLaren team principal Zak Brown agreed that Norris had been particularly unlucky, saying the team believed the race was theirs to win before the VSC timing intervened.
“There was nothing we could do. It was great to hear Lando’s radio message to just shrug it off, but I think it was our race by 20-25 seconds,” Brown said.
“He was dominant and he was gone. He was managing it great – tyre wear was great. He was in a league of his own. He’s got a trophy, yes, but it was P3. Not P1.”
Antonelli ultimately finished 4.351 seconds ahead of Verstappen, with Norris a further 0.738 seconds behind in third.
Charles Leclerc finished fourth for Ferrari while Mercedes’ George Russell completed the top five.
