Lando Norris and McLaren failed to maximize their package in Britain despite the 24-year-old finishing third in the race. Since Norris failed to win because of a crucial decision he and his team made via their radio, an expert has highlighted how this exchange between the driver and his engineer highlights the side’s ‘loser mentality’.
While speaking on the most recent episode of the ESPN F1 Unlapped podcast, Nate Saunders said, “The thing that was really remarkable I thought was that we heard Norris’ radio, where they said, ‘You want to cover Lewis or you want to cover Max'”.
Saunders then further added, “And Lando’s radio was like, ‘Let’s cover Lewis’. Yeah let’s cover Lewis and then he pauses and says, ‘Or let’s cover Max. I am happy with either way'”.
Saunders believes that this exchange between Norris and his engineer does not suggest that McLaren are in a position yet where they take bold decisions that can help them win the race. Hence, while McLaren were indecisive in this fashion, that was not the case with Mercedes or Red Bull.
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Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was the one who instructed his team when he wanted to make the switch over from the slicks to the inters. And similarly, even at Red Bull, it was Max Verstappen who made this same call and also the choice to go for hard tires. The decisions from both Hamilton and Verstappen ultimately helped them finish first and second respectively.
Since McLaren failed to win the British GP, Saunders believes they are forming a ‘loser’s mentality,’ which could even cost them moving forward. On the other hand, the ESPN expert believes that the likes of Red Bull and Mercedes have a winning mentality, which helped them make the right decisions at the right time at Silverstone.
What cost Norris the win at Silverstone?
Although McLaren seemed to have the quickest car at Silverstone, it is pertinent to note that the British GP was not one of the easiest races for the drivers or the teams. With the conditions changing continuously because of the rain and the track then drying, teams needed to make bold and split-second decisions to have the best chance of performing well in the race.
With Norris in the lead of the race at one stage, McLaren arguably had the hardest decision to make. They could have either prioritized track position and reacted to their competitors, which they ultimately ended up doing and lost out as a result.
Or else, they could take the bold decision to pit when they thought was the best time to do so. McLaren had such a decision to make for the last stint of the British GP when all teams were considering the optimal time to make the switch over from the intermediates to the slicks.
Unfortunately, for Norris, McLaren pitted him one lap too late. And that’s not it, they also put the soft tires on for the Briton despite having a new set of mediums available. As a result of coming in a lap late, Norris not only lost the lead to Hamilton but was also vulnerable to Verstappen, who had the hard tires on.
This strategy was bewildering from McLaren’s point of view as Norris was the quickest on the mediums during practice. It is for the same reason that both Hamilton and F1 expert Rachel Brookes questioned McLaren’s call to put Norris on the soft despite having the mediums available.
