When Kimi Antonelli took the checkered flag at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, his radio celebration was rather muted. While the victory moved the young Mercedes driver one step closer to a first Drivers’ Championship — he now leads teammate George Russell by 81 points with nine race weekends remaining — Antonelli’s thoughts were elsewhere.

With Lando Norris, who settled for third.

After capturing pole position on Saturday, Norris was driving away from the field during an early stint in the Spanish Grand Prix, at the all-new Madring circuit in Madrid. The McLaren driver had built a nearly six-second lead over Antonelli in the early stint, and was pumping in fastest lap after fastest lap.

Then, however, the racing gods intervened.

Lance Stroll came to a stop just off the track, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car. That was called for seconds after Norris passed the entry to pit lane, and his rivals at the front of the field dipped down for a pit stop under VSC conditions. Those conditions remained as Norris slowly wound around the Madrid, and he was just nearing the entry himself when the VSC was lifted and green-flag racing resumed.

Only, he came back down pit lane for a stop.

It was a slow stop at that, as McLaren had trouble on the right front tire of his MCL40, and by the time Norris was back on the track Antonelli and several other leaders had passed him, and he rejoined the fight down in P6.

While Norris recovered from there to finish third, it was not the day he envisioned.

Nor was it the day Antonelli envisioned:

Yeah, it was a very difficult race, not straightforward at all, especially trying to manage tyres. But yeah, I think today, you know, it’s good to win, but it doesn’t feel as good because I think Lando today deserved the win. But overall, you know, we’ll take it. Other than that, it was a very strong race. I think especially on the Hard at the end, with really good pace. And yeah, now we’ve got to keep pushing.

Antonelli was not alone in that assessment as Max Verstappen, who finished second, called Norris “unlucky” trackside after the race.

As for Norris, he said there was “nothing he could do” in the moments after the checkered flag:

There was nothing I could do. Congrats to Kimi and Max. They drove a good race today, so just luck not on our side. And I gave it a good fight, you know, to try and catch up with Max, but difficult to pass. He didn’t really make any mistakes. And yeah, a tough race, one that just got away from us. I felt like we deserved it today, but that’s racing sometimes. So we’ll take it on the chin and try again next time.

Elaborating on the situation in the FIA Press Conference, Norris stated that he was “unlucky” with how the VSC folded, and that he deserved more in Madrid:

We were just insanely unlucky today. I was the only one on the whole grid, that didn’t get the chance to do the pit stop. That’s just unfortunate. You know, it’s happened in races and there’s been plenty of times where I’ve gained from it in the past and times where I’ve lost from it, and it’s racing, but never when fighting for a win. So, I think it’s probably one of the first times a win has been lost simply because of it. But yeah, it’s frustrating, especially after the performance yesterday and the performance I was putting in at the beginning of the race, and I had all race, in fact. Of course I feel like I deserved more today, but the others also did a good race and I have to give credit to that too.

Speaking to the official F1 channel, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella shared his driver’s frustrations.

Starting from pole position, leading the race and having incredible pace… this would’ve been a race won by many seconds, and we ended up in third position.

The reality is that in racing, there are elements that you can control and some that you cannot control. The timing of the Virtual Safety Car was a couple of seconds too late – Lando had already passed the pit entry – and then he was a few seconds too early because then it was ending once he came in to pit.

Pressed on why McLaren still called Norris in under green-flag conditions, Stella asserted that the team did not have any other option.

The logic is that if you stay out, you stay out with used mediums [that are] already grained, and it means that at some stage you will pit behind the people that have already pitted on the hard tires, so it’s going to be a similar race to [Charles] Leclerc.

We would actually have pitted even earlier because the medium would finish earlier, so there was no option really to retain the lead.

We needed to accept that the timing was incredibly unfortunate and, like I said, it’s a positive race overall.

The elements that we could not control made a difference but those that we could control make us very optimistic for the future.

Speaking of the future, Norris raised the idea of a change to the VSC rules and regulations, noting that it is something drivers have asked for in the past.

But the McLaren driver noted that has to come from the full field, and not just him.

Yeah, I mean, it’s been brought up many times over the years by different drivers. I think there’s always probably some cons to doing it, but it’s tough. Like I said, I’ve won from it in the past, I’ve lost from it in the past. Over the course of a season, it’s hard to know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. It probably equals out over time. Of course, it just hurts more, the fact that I lose a win. You know, there’s literally nothing I could do as a driver today to do a better job. Pole, led the race, and to lose it for nothing in my control is, I don’t think, how a race should be won. But I think people, I hope people agree, I think people would agree.

But it is racing and it’s happened, so I can’t really complain about it. I can be upset about it, but I can’t really complain about it. And I think there are things, because we have spoken about it in the past several times, about how it can be at least covered for one lap or everyone has the opportunity to do the pit stops, or you just block the pit entry and no one can box apart from if you have a puncture or something, you know. So, I think there’s a few things you could do to make it more simple and more fair for everyone, but that’s a bigger discussion. You know, this is not something I can just ask for.

I think it’s something, as a group of drivers, I think we would all want, but there’s a lot more to it. You know, depending on if it’s raining and there’s a VSC and you’re on slicks, does it mean you can box or not? You know, so it’s a complicated subject. But I think as a collection of drivers, if we all talk about it, I think everyone wants the same thing, and that’s just fairness for everyone. So yeah, of course I’m complaining about it today. I could benefit from it next week, next time out, and I could win because of it. So yeah, I have to take it on the chin, but I just hope it doesn’t happen to anyone again because it’s just not how you should lose a race.

But that is how Norris lost a race on Sunday, finishing third on a day where he certainly had the pace to win.