What started off as an excellent race weekend, turned out to be a nightmare for McLaren and Lando Norris. After the highs of a strong practice routine where Norris even managed to clinch P1, the Brit put his MCL60 right alongside Max Verstappen for today’s Grand Prix. But even a stellar Quali effort from the 23-year-old British racing ace wasn’t enough to brace him from the embarrassing strategy calls of his team.

As the first lap of the race almost came to an end, the heavens opened up. With the track now essentially flooded, almost everyone took the right call to jump into the pits for intermediates. However, the Woking-based team surprisingly kept Norris out! The rationale? Well, whatever it was, it got Norris pretty riled up on the radio comms as he angrily responded, “What the… Are you f**king stupid, mate?” In the end, he finished a disappointing 7th.

Zak Brown shamelessly hides from Norris’ wrath

Both the McLaren cars had massive potential today. That being said, a flawed strategy call for Norris is what ruined his race. You’d have expected CEO Zak Brown to have taken the fault on his chin after Norris’ outburst. However, he resorted to relying on excuses instead.

After the race, Zak was quoted as saying, “Difficult race. Tricky conditions. We could have got more out of this race. We’ll debrief on that, but good to have both drivers in the points in P7 and P9 and we’ll be ready to go hard again in Monza.”

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While Brown wasn’t in the mood to address the elephant in the room, Norris chose to assume that particular responsibility.

Read More: Fernando Alonso Learns From Lando Norris’ $40,000 Blunder to Take Cautious Approach With Max Verstappen’s Historic Possession

After an unforgivable gaffe, Lando Norris makes a plea to McLaren

In Formula 1 racing, there is no place for complacency or incompetence. Even though the rejuvenated MCL60 is comparable machinery for Norris to get his elbows out at the very front of the pack, there is only so much he can do without the support of his team. P2 in Quali, and 7th in the race after a strategy gaffe are testaments to this fact, respectively.

Hence, after the race, he came onto his radio comms to make an urgent plea to his team. He was quoted as saying, “Not our best executed race, but points on the board for both of us, so well done but, y’know! Still, P2 in quali is good – but we want to make this perfect.”

Is McLaren really the right place for Lando Norris to carve out a niche for himself in this sport?

WATCH THIS STORY | How Lando Norris Had a Chance to Go to Red Bull But Instead Chose McLaren