Is Lando Norris facing unfair criticism? 

Lando Norris is second in the championship this season as the F1 paddock enjoys the summer break. Having said that, if you look at the rhetoric around the British driver, it appears that many have either written him off or feel that he's just not ready to win a title.

One of the biggest knocks on Lando Norris appears to be the fact that the McLaren driver hasn't been able to convert the opportunities he has had into wins.

Ever since his first F1 win in Miami, Lando Norris has had the opportunity to win five more races. He's come out of it with no wins at all. That's something many hold against him.

Having said that, is it unfair to squarely blame Lando Norris for missing out on these wins? Is there more than what meets the eye? Let's take a look.

---

Canada (Strategy error)

The race in Canada was the one where Lando Norris had a handsome lead before the safety car. If it wasn't for the safety car period, the British driver would have cruised to a win.

The decision-making during the safety car period and the aftermath was not Lando Norris' fault. It was on the team and if the decision had been made at the right time, the McLaren driver would have won the race.

Spain (Lando Norris' start)

This one has to be on Lando because if he had nailed the start, there was no way he was going to lose the race.

The driver had the pace to be the fastest in the race. After the start, where Lando lost the lead, one has to commend McLaren for even bringing the driver back into contention. In the end, it wasn't enough, and the driver finished P2 in the race.

---

Austria (Max Verstappen clash)

Looking back, one would be hard-pressed to claim that the Max Verstappen-Lando Norris clash was on the McLaren driver. The entire situation and what had led to the crash were a case where the Red Bull driver was just pushing the boundaries a bit too much.

If there was a blame to be assigned in the Lando-Max crash, it was on the Red Bull driver, and there's certainly evidence that makes you think that Norris was more of the victim in all of this.

---

Silverstone (Team strategy debacle)

It's tough to look at it in any other way than the fact that it was a strategic debacle from McLaren. Placing the onus of tires and the all-important pitstop on the driver was just not the right thing and the team paid for it.

With the right strategy, Lando Norris would have won the race in Silverstone, but it was not to be.

---

Hungary (Losing the lead at the start)

The race in Hungary was more or less decided at the start when Lando Norris lost the lead to Oscar Piastri.

He closed down the gap to just a second in the second stint, but McLaren's strategic debacle cost the team what could have potentially been a proper battle for the win. Regardless, this was a win lost because Norris didn't nail the start, and it cost him

---

Conclusion

In essence, there are five races that Norris could have won but didn't. He lost two of them because of the team's strategic debacle. He lost another two because of a poor start, and he lost one because of a collision with Max Verstappen.

Overall, he has lost 40% of the races because of his mistakes, but 60% of the losses cannot be attributed to him. There's an argument to be made here that Norris needs to get his race starts in order, but at the same time, you cannot put the entire blame for the loss of race wins on him.

Lando Noreis has surely not been perfect, but the way he has been criticised has been a bit unfair.