Lando Norris labelled his United States Grand Prix weekend a «momentum killer» for his Formula 1 title hopes after losing ground to Max Verstappen.
The McLaren driver had gone into the Austin event 52 points behind his Red Bull rival and well aware that, with time running out, he needed to start cutting the deficit dramatically.
But rather than continuing to close down the margin, Norris actually lost five more points after being classified behind Verstappen in both the sprint and the grand prix.
His efforts on Sunday though were not helped by a controversial five-second penalty for overtaking off the track that dropped him from third on the road ahead of Verstappen to behind his rival.
Asked how much the weekend had impacted his title prospect, Norris said: «I mean, quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.
«But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate or just win or anything. The fact that Ferrari was so quick showed they’re just as competitive.
«Even if I had come around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second and only could have finished third.
«The one guy I needed to beat was Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat. So, it was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.
«But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I’ve work to do on myself.»
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
While McLaren’s form in the United States was not as good as it has been in recent race weekends, team boss Andrea Stella said he was not surprised that things were more difficult this time out.
He said that the contrast in pace, between dominating in Singapore in the last race and being on the back foot a little in Austin, was down to track characteristics.
«Compared to Singapore, here there’s quite a lot more low-speed braking into low-speed corners, plus wind, and we know that in these conditions, not necessarily our car performs at the best,» he said.
«It is not as good as in some medium speed corners, low wind conditions, which we had in Singapore, we had in Zandvoort, and we had in Hungary.
«We know that these three venues that I’ve just mentioned do suit our car, but here I would have expected this event to be the most difficult of the remaining six events.»
Stella also thinks it is important to understand that Ferrari’s dominant form in Austin was not a big shock, because analysis of recent races shows that perhaps the Italian squad had not maximised its chances before.
«They have been quick over the previous races pretty consistently,» he added. «If anything, they have not been capable of maximising their potential.
«In Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be competitive for pole position and the same in the race. So, we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.
«I think the next circuits should be more suitable to the characteristics of our car. We also have to keep developing the car.
«Here, we took some developments to the front of the car, but they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap time impact. We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races, and we will see if we are in a condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.»
Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas