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Lando Norris reckons his title rival and race winner Max Verstappen would have "lapped us" in the Brazilian Grand Prix had Verstappen started at the front of the field.
Verstappen advanced from 17th (albeit with Lance Stroll and Alex Albon ahead absent from the grid) to win, building up a lead of nearly 20 seconds with fastest lap in the second half of the race.
His first victory since the Spanish GP in late June meant he stretched his championship lead to 62 points over Norris, who twice went off track in the wet race and finished sixth having started from pole.
“We weren’t quick enough,” said Norris.
“Max was easily quicker than us so I think if he [started] from the front, he probably would have lapped us. The pace was, I think, similar to George [Russell], but the Red Bull was way faster.”
Mercedes driver Russell snatched the lead from Norris at the start of the race and the pair duelled while Verstappen was scything through the field. The Mercedes and the McLaren both pitted just as a virtual safety car was ending while Verstappen stayed out - and changed tyres during the mid-race red flag.
The McLaren championship contender criticised the freedom for teams change tyres during the red flag period - and effectively continue without a pitstop to the chequered flag, as Verstappen and the podium-finishing Alpine drivers did.
“It's a silly rule that no one agrees with, but you'll always agree with it when it benefits you,” Norris said.
“Every driver said that they don't agree with it and they want it changed. It's just unfortunate. But it's the rule. You win some, you lose some, it benefited them today, so... well done to them.”
While Verstappen passed Esteban Ocon - who also capitalised on the red flag - on a later restart and raced away to victory, sprint race winner Norris struggled in the second half of the race, going off track after the red flag and ultimately getting stuck behind Charles Leclerc.
“Not a lot more I could do,” continued Norris. “I'm sure George probably feels like he [could have] won the race. He deserved it more than anyone else.
“I’d probably have finished third realistically, so it’s tough, Max probably would have come through anyway and probably beaten us.
“Just unlucky for us. Nothing more than that. I made a couple of mistakes which cost me a couple of positions in the end.”
Norris faced a post-race summons for pulling away from the grid during an aborted start after Stroll had beached his car during the formation lap.
He and Russell were handed €5000 fines and reprimands for doing so as they influenced the actions of cars behind, while Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson were also under investigation for this alleged breach of the regulations.
No further action was taken against the RB duo as they were deemed to have been influenced by Norris and Russell.
Norris's team-mate Oscar Piastri finished seventh having also pitted during the virtual safety car, but a 10-second penalty for clashing with Liam Lawson demoted him to eighth.
“It was tough, I just didn’t really have enough pace at the beginning, but he [Verstappen] seemed to be pretty much the only one that could actually overtake,” said Piastri.
“I was struggling with the brakes all day, we had a problem in qualifying that was the same in the race, so that certainly wasn’t helping things. One benefit for Max was going out so early [in Q1], he had a bunch of new inters which I think probably helped a little bit.
“But he was just fast today. The cards didn’t fall his way in qualifying with the red flag, they certainly did in the race, so yeah, he was just quick and had a good race.”
