PALMER: Why McLaren’s call to pit Norris after the VSC made no sense

Lando Norris and McLaren were left despondent after a race that looked to be theirs got away in Madrid. For the second time in seven days Kimi Antonelli benefitted from a Virtual Safety Car and in Spain he snaffled the win away from a driver who did everything right.

McLaren were desperately unlucky with the timing of the VSC. They missed out on both ends of it by small margins. Lance Stroll’s car was stationary for a full 30 seconds before the VSC was deployed, after he was forced to stop on track with a mechanical problem on his Aston Martin.