Several experts criticized McLaren after they failed to win last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix despite having two of their drivers competing for the victory against Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Many believe that the Woking-based outfit could have made a strategic move to beat the Dutchman, especially considering that they currently have the fastest car.
And the reason why McLaren came under immense fire was that they did not even try switching their drivers around to chase Verstappen down, despite Oscar Piastri having been quicker than Lando Norris, especially during the latter stages of the race. The Aussie was able to get within DRS range of his teammate much more often than Norris got within a second of Verstappen.
Having failed to capitalize on Piastri’s pace, Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz believes that McLaren made a mistake. However, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella stood by his side’s decision.
“I think Oscar made the right comments, but today, it was simply not possible to overtake. He got close on Lando because Lando was managing his tires, trying to give it a go to Max. So I think we need to be a little careful in judging superficially,” Stella said. Now, even 1996 F1 champion Damon Hill has backed Stella and Co.
“Be a little careful in judging”, Nicely put. If a little hopeful,” Hill wrote on his Instagram story. The former Williams driver was correct to some extent, given that McLaren would’ve known the entire picture behind the pit wall.
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Dirty air has persisted to be an issue in the ground-effect era, even though these regulations were aimed at resolving this phenomenon. That said, it was only Norris who seemed on the back foot in Verstappen‘s dirty air. Piastri kept on closing in on his teammate, indicating his better pace.
And even if one considers Stella’s words to be true that Norris was managing his tires, the British driver could’ve made a full-blown attack in the final few laps. But the fact that Norris didn’t exposes the loophole in McLaren’s justification to make their cars hold position.
McLaren’s poor strategic calls have opened the door for Verstappen
After finishing second and third in Japan, Verstappen has put McLaren in a huge predicament. While he was just eight points behind leader Norris after China, few were counting him as a serious title contender.
Now that he is only a point behind the #4 driver and having won a close race in Suzuka, Norris and Piastri would be wary about the Dutchman’s abilities at every other weekend to spring such a surprise and ruin their title challenge.
With Piastri also just 13 points behind in P3, Norris would be wary of two drivers—who have been quicker than him so far—hunting him down for the championship lead. While Norris is still the leader in the standings, the next two rounds in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could turn the tables for the British driver, who had proclaimed that 2025 would be his year.
Even Verstappen admitted that McLaren’s mistakes are giving him better opportunities to bolster his championship challenge.“The others do indeed make more mistakes than I do. I’m not surprised by that. If I can be close enough, I know I’ll always make the difference,” he said after winning his 64th Grand Prix in Suzuka.
