Spanish Grand Prix: How virtual safety car cost Lando Norris race win – and should F1 change the rules?
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How virtual safety car cost Norris win – and should F1 change rules?
Image source: Getty Images
Image caption: Lando Norris is now five points third-placed Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ championship
By Andrew Benson
F1 Correspondent in Madrid
Published 24 minutes ago
Lando Norris says he was "insanely unlucky" to lose what seemed like a certain win in the Spanish Grand Prix because of the timing of a virtual safety car (VSC).
McLaren’s Norris was leading comfortably when the VSC was called, seconds after he had passed the pit lane entry. That allowed Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to pit under the VSC, saving time, while the caution period ended before Norris could make it around to the pits again.
Of the VSC, Norris said: "It is a rule that should not define a whole race."
"I was the only one on the whole grid that didn’t get the chance to do the pit stop," he said. "That’s just unfortunate. There’s been plenty of times where I’ve gained from it in the past and times where I’ve lost from it, and it’s racing, but never when fighting for a win."
After taking pole position with a lap his team principal Andrea Stella described as "a masterpiece", Norris was leading Antonelli by more than six seconds after 13 laps in Madrid. He had just passed the pit entry at the end of lap 14 when a VSC was called because Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin had stopped in the run-off area at Turn 20, while Antonelli and Verstappen were far enough behind to pit.
The VSC, which controls all cars to a specified maximum speed, then ended shortly before Norris completed the next lap, at the end of which he pitted. Because a stop under the VSC costs 11 seconds less race time than one under green-flag conditions, Norris lost sufficient time that Antonelli and Verstappen were able to pass him.
He lost a further five seconds because of problems with his two right-hand side tyres at the stop and emerged from the pits more than 15 seconds behind Antonelli and more than nine adrift of Verstappen. He caught the Red Bull before the end of the race but as overtaking was virtually impossible on the new Madrid street circuit, he was stuck in third place.
Race-winner Antonelli, who extended his championship lead to 81 points, acknowledged Norris’ bad fortune. "If I have to be realistic and honest, today we didn’t deserve to win," he said. "Lando deserved to win, and so I think our result was probably P2 or even P3."
Antonelli wins as Norris loses out under virtual safety car
Published 4 hours ago
Antonelli impressive and one of Colapinto’s best weekends – driver ratings
Published 1 hour ago
What is the VSC?
The VSC (Virtual Safety Car) is a system by which the cars are forced to drive to a specified lap-time delta while a hazard on track is cleared. It is used in certain circumstances in favour of deploying the actual safety car, usually when the hazard can be cleared relatively quickly, because it interferes less with the race and minimises the time lost under caution.
A physical safety car involves a modified car that slows the pace of the field to a crawl behind a safety vehicle at the back of the pack. This allows marshals to clear debris or other hazards from the track without putting drivers in danger by bringing them to a stop alongside it.
