McLaren boss suggests CRUCIAL error cost Norris Imola victory

Lando Norris has suggested that McLaren CEO Zak Brown told him of an unusual feature that hampered his progress in Imola.

The British driver achieved a maiden victory at the Miami Grand Prix, and was looking for his second consecutive win at the Emilia-Romagna GP last weekend.

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Whilst a Max Verstappen's victory seemed sealed by the end of the first lap, Norris mounted a late challenge to the champion in the closing stages of the race.

With around 15 laps to go, Verstappen started to struggle with his tyres, playing into the hands of young Brit Norris.

Could Norris have beat Verstappen in Imola?

As the laps dwindled down so did the gap to Verstappen, with Norris within a second on the final lap, however, it was not enough to catch him.

After the race, Lando Norris revealed a crucial detail that may have cost him in Imola.

"He (Zak Brown) said if I shaved off my beard - or half beard - it's eight tenths and eight tenths would have won me the race today so,” Norris joked to Sky Sports.

When asked about his push at the end, Norris explained how difficult it was to compete with Verstappen at the start of the race.

“I was pushing as much as I could…but pushing doesn’t mean you’re flat out destroying the tyres,” he continued.

“Pushing is keeping the tyres in a good window, trying to control things and I was doing that from start to finish.

“But we just struggled so much in the very beginning of the race, I lost ten seconds to Max in the first 15 laps.

“I just had so much rear tyre deg I couldn’t really control it and I wasn’t in a good position.

“So in the second half I had to do as much as I could to look after the tyres and change the balance - even Charles was pushing up to me putting me under pressure.

“But as soon as I had some clear track ahead of me I could settle down a little bit, get everything into a good window and I could push, everything started to come alive.

“Don’t ask me if I could have pushed a little bit earlier because I don’t think I necessarily could have done, it's such a difficult thing to judge.”

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