Lando Norris loses the chance to win the Spanish Grand Prix due to the virtual safety car

Lando Norris went from the euphoria of celebrating achieving one of the best first-place starts in his career in the Formula 1 World Championship to feeling “incredibly unlucky,” after the defending champion bemoaned a victory that slipped away from his hands on Sunday without any fault of his own.

The McLaren racer appeared to be on his way to achieving his third victory this season after starting from the lead in the debut of the new Madrid circuit through the Spanish Grand Prix, and he extended the gap to more than six seconds before the virtual safety car caused his chances to be wasted.

With overtaking being almost impossible on this track, Norris had to settle for third place behind Kimi Antonelli, the race-winning Mercedes racer, and Max Verstappen, the Red Bull racer.

“There was nothing I could do,” Norris said about the situation that allowed his competitors behind him to enter the pit lane and gain a valuable time advantage, while he was unable to do so because he passed the pit lane entrance only seconds before.

When he entered the pit lane on the next lap, the lead had been completely lost.

Norris said: “I congratulate Kimi and Max, they had a good race today, just luck was not on our side.”

The British driver's third place today resulted in him remaining in fourth place in the overall standings, 106 points behind leader Antonelli, who scored his eighth victory this season.

When asked if he felt that the victory was “lost from his hands,” Norris clarified his position.

He said: “It depends on how you define the phrase ‘lost.’ It is not that we made a mistake that caused the loss, we were just very unlucky today. “I was the only one on the entire grid who did not get the opportunity to make a pit stop, which is bad luck.”

He added: “I went through many times when I benefited from this in the past and times when I lost, and this is the atmosphere of racing, but it is not (this is a good thing) when you are fighting for the win.”

In response to a question about whether he or his team could expect the race management to announce the virtual safety car immediately after Aston Martin racer Lance Stroll stopped on the track: “It is not the team’s fault, and it is not my fault, it is that simple, we were just unlucky.”

Norris said that staying on the track for a longer period was not an option either, given that competitors had newer tires.

He explained: “I had to enter at the end of the lap because it was the only opportunity. The goal was to reduce losses in the pit lane, especially since everyone’s tires are colder and we seek to reduce losses in the pit lane as much as possible.”

He continued: “The medium tires were completely worn out, while the hard tires were amazing.”