Looking beyond Max Verstappen’s masterclass to win his fourth consecutive Japanese GP, one would wonder how McLaren couldn’t win this race despite having the pace advantage over Red Bull. Even after qualifying second and third, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri had the pace in the MCL39 to beat Verstappen to victory.
In fact, Norris and Piastri lost out on pole against the Dutchman because of their respective mistakes in their final Q3 laps. After the race, Verstappen himself admitted that he would have disappeared into the distance if he had been driving the MCL39. So, did McLaren make a mistake, or was Verstappen just too good?
Piastri actually had more pace than his British teammate, but McLaren never considered swapping the cars to give the Aussie a chance at chasing Verstappen. He even came on the radio to ask for the same in the final stint, but the McLaren pit wall was adamant. Why so? Norris was the effective lead driver, as he outqualified Piastri by a slender margin of 0.032 seconds.
That said, Norris never looked as incisive as the Melbourne-born driver throughout the Grand Prix on Sunday. Even Norris’ friend, Aarav, felt like McLaren missed a chance to win in Japan by not swapping their cars. Just before the race ended, he posted on X (formerly Twitter): “If this ends McLaren 2-3, they need to learn & take a leaf out of the old Merc 2017-19 era, swap the cars earlier.”
“If the overtake doesn’t happen, swap back before the race ends. It’s pretty simple tactic to try get a 1-3 as a team vs 2-3. On the other hand, Verstappen just doing an incredible job”.
If this ends McLaren 2-3, they need to learn & take a leaf out of the old Merc 2017-19 era, swap the cars earlier, if the overtake doesn’t happen, swap back before the race ends. It’s pretty simple tactic to try get a 1-3 as a team vs 2-3.
On the other hand, Verstappen just…
— Aarav (@_aarava) April 6, 2025
The 2017 Hungarian GP is the perfect case in point when Mercedes swapped Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to give the Briton a better chance of fighting Kimi Raikkonen for second. But when Hamilton was unable to overtake Raikkonen, he gave the position back to Bottas on the final lap of the race.
McLaren could have surely tried something similar. Given that the Aussie has often complied with team orders since 2023, he would’ve given the place back to Norris if he failed to pass Verstappen for the lead.
Close at the top!
Leaving Suzuka, the Drivers’ Standings now look like this… #F1 #JapaneseGP pic.twitter.com/sx14jkaO6f
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 6, 2025
However, after what happened in Hungary last year when Norris was adamant about not letting Piastri pass for the win—which he rightfully deserved—the Woking team must’ve been a bit skeptical to deploy team orders again.
So, it is possible McLaren wanted to avoid such a situation altogether, as their main priority is to win the Constructors’ Championship, where they have built a decent lead so far in 2025.
With a 2-3 finish for Norris and Piastri in Japan, McLaren once again racked up the highest points haul among all teams to extend their lead over second-placed Mercedes to 36 points. Still, they need to go back and reflect on what they could’ve done differently to win this race, as it may help them later in the season if a crunch situation arises in the title fight.
