Lando Norris airs frustration after suffering multiple Belgian GP setbacks

Lando Norris has expressed belief he had the pace to win the Belgian Grand Prix if not for a series of setbacks.

Norris qualified for the race in third place but was demoted 10 places on the starting grid due to taking on new power unit components outside of his season allocation.

As he made his way through the pack, Norris didn't pit under a virtual safety car, an intervention some of his rivals took advantage of.

He was then further hindered by a slow stop when he eventually made his way into the pit lane, adding to his list of frustrations.

“The pace was incredible, to be honest,” Norris told media including RacingNews365,

“The pace was good enough for a podium. Of course, it was made tougher by the fact that I had to start from P13.

“The VSCs were also badly timed for us. They perfectly benefited the hard runners and were a bit too early for me. 

“But that's something we'll review, we'll see if we could have boxed under the VSC. I lost 10 seconds because of that and I lost another five or six in the pit stop. 

“So 16 seconds that we had on to my race time, which just makes my life incredibly tough.”

Having entered the year looking to defend its championship, it has been a challenging campaign so far for McLaren, which has yet to take the top step of the podium.

However, without any grid demotions or in-race difficulties, Norris stated he could have got himself involved in the fight at the front on pure pace.

“I don't think we could have made our race any more difficult today,” he said.

“The pace was good enough for a podium or even to win. So it's a shame that we couldn't try and achieve that.”