Team orders won’t cost Lando Norris a World title – but his poor starts will

When the chequered flag was flown in Hungary, one of the prevailing talking points was: will team orders cost Lando Norris a World title?

The Briton had just surrendered the lead to team-mate Oscar Piastri, choosing unity over selfishness and even though the majority agreed it was the right choice, there were those who said it was not the move of a World Champion in waiting.

But whether you agree or disagree with that conclusion, the reality is there is a far more pressing concern for both Norris and McLaren to deal with – his poor race starts.

Even those with the most hazy of memories recall incidents like Silverstone where he went wide on the opening lap and allowed Max Verstappen to move past. Or Hungary where he left the door open for team-mate Piastri to take the lead and take control.

He qualified on pole for the China sprint but was outpaced by Lewis Hamilton and eventually shouldered off the track and down into seventh by the end of lap two. In Belgium, he went wide at Turn 1 and lost three places by the end of lap two.

Even in his race victory at Miami, he lost a position off the start.

You do not need to look very closely to spot this trend – but a deeper dive into the data shows how big the problem is.

What do Lando Norris’ numbers say?

While the eye test is enough to generate perceptions of drivers, it is numbers that can back up what you believe.

In the case of Norris and poor starts, both the eye test and the numbers are aligned with one another.

Data shows that over the 17 race starts the drivers have done this season, Norris has lost a total of 26 spots – albeit with that including the 11 spots he lost in the Miami sprint in a collision that was not his fault.

But in comparison to the other top drivers, Norris is notably weak in this area.

Sainz has lost six, Perez has lost five, Leclerc has lost four with Russell exactly equal. Meanwhile Verstappen, Hamilton and even Norris’ team-mate Piastri have gained spots.

Aside from the Miami sprint, his worst offence is the Chinese sprint where he lost six places in the space of two laps, the most of any of the top six drivers not involved in a crash all season.

Alarmingly as well, he has yet to gain a spot after two laps, meaning unless he has a strong qualifying, he has found it hard to get amongst the podium spots.

Has Norris always been like this?

Of course, there is always the possibility that Norris has always been weak in this area and it is only now being put into the spotlight.

McLaren’s rapid ascension to the front of the pack has put this once-midfield team into the realm of perfectionism, where every small issue is pounced on by your rivals.

It is not just Norris who has been a victim of this. McLaren’s strategy team has (rightly) had questions asked of it after some less than perfect calls and when you are going up against a team on a run of two World titles and another who not long ago put a string of eight together, these fine margins have a far bigger influence than they would lower down the order.

So looking back over Norris’ five seasons, there is a prevailing trend that was perhaps not picked up on until now.

In his debut season in 2019, Norris’ net position was -6 with his three biggest falls coming within the first five races. That is an understandable metric for a rookie and his pick-up toward the end of the year – he fell behind just twice in the last nine races – suggested he was getting on top of it.

Indeed, 2020 was a continuation of that trend. Aside from Russia where he lost 10 places, Norris was no more than five spots behind his original starting position after two laps and come the end of the season, his net position gain was +1.

But 2021 saw an alarming change to that trend. 15 places lost in Brazil contributed to a net loss of 25 and in 2022, he lost five places overall.

Come 2023 and Norris was no longer a newcomer in F1 but he still struggled to get off to a good start. His pole position in the Sao Paulo sprint saw him lose two places after two laps, while in Spain he went from P3 to last after picking up damage in a collision with Hamilton.

The data shows that starts have often been the weak spot in Norris’ skillset, it is only now that they are beginning to have big consequences.

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What Lando Norris and McLaren have said

This trend is not lost on either driver or team.

Speaking before the final race before the summer break in Belgium (where he would go on to lose two spots at the start), Norris conceded that his “starts have not been great” and spoke of the need of a “reset” over the summer break.

“I think I just need it to reset,” Norris said.

“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races, just because of stupid stuff and mistakes, bad starts.

“I don’t know why. It’s just silly things, it’s not even difficult stuff. It’s just Turn 1, try to stay out of trouble, try to make sure there’s a gap and not get hit and I put myself off the track, so just some stupid things.

“The pace is good, the team is doing an amazing job, so I’m happy and in a way, I feel like I just don’t want to take a break, I just want to continue, because we’re in good form.

“Even today, I feel like the pace was very strong, but just the last two, three races, I’ve just not clicked as much as I needed to and given up a lot of points.

“Obviously my starts have not been great. I’ve lost probably a good amount of points off the line and now Turn 1 again, easily a podium or even more.

“There isn’t one reason, it’s just probably trying a bit too hard and paying the price for that.”

“So hopefully, I can come back strong.”

Team principal Andrea Stella, meanwhile, responded to that suggestion in his typically diplomatic way, saying they were aware they had work to do but that was the case with both drivers.

“I think Lando got a little distracted from what was happening on the inside and ran out of track,” Stella said. “It’s marginal things, it just I think requires little adjustments here and there.

“Certainly, we work with Lando, like we work with Oscar to try and see all the opportunities in which we can improve individually, but also collaborate better to either be more prepared or to use better our abilities and talents.

“So, I think it doesn’t necessarily change our attitude, but definitely gives us some elements to analyse how some of these missed opportunities manifest themselves.”

Norris must overcome starting hurdle if he is to fight for a World Championship

Contesting a World title in any era is difficult but to do so when you have two of the best of all-time on the grid is another level of competition.

The skill level between Vetersappen and Norris may not be all that different but it is the Dutchman’s ruthless efficiency that has made him into the formidable driver he is.

It’s been over three years since Verstappen made a mistake that saw him DNF and of the 40 poles he has achieved in his career, he has won from 32 of them, giving him the best conversation rate of any driver on more than one pole.

As to how McLaren and Norris fix the issue, simulator work will only get you so far and is unlikely to reproduce the same high tension of a race start, suggesting that Norris’ only chance to fix it will come during the race itself.

No doubt there is a mental aspect to this, too, with Norris known to be a more self-critical driver than most, so working with a sport psychologist may also have a positive impact.

It is not a terminal flaw in Norris’ skillset but to be the best, you cannot give your rivals any sniff of a weakness.

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