McLaren rejoices in Lando Norris’ commendable third place achievement at the British GP, yet laments a missed opportunity for a victorious race.
What should have been a win for Lando Norris at the British Grand Prix became a third-place finish in a race filled with stumbling blocks for McLaren — and team boss Andrea Stella has admitted the team offered Norris a choice, doubting their own strategy call.
The fatal error came as conditions dried up and it came time to swap from intermediate to soft tires: McLaren offered Lando Norris a choice, unfortunately, the British racer made the wrong call. It was one of several issues Stella pinpoints the team as making.
Stella: ‘We kind of self doubted’
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher and Sam Cooper
Andrea Stella admits that McLaren had doubts about their decision-making when it came to choosing the slick tire compound for Lando Norris. Instead of imposing their preferred choice on him, they decided to go with Norris’ preference, which they now realize was not the ideal decision in hindsight.
Basically, McLaren was aware that the medium-compound tire would be the most suitable option for Norris in the last phase of the race. Instead of directly informing Norris about the switch to mediums, McLaren presented him with the opportunity to select his preferred tire compound.
Norris chose to use soft compounds that deteriorated rapidly, leaving him vulnerable to a pass from Max Verstappen.
“At the British Grand Prix, including PlanetF1.com, Stella informed the media that in those circumstances, we desired to consult Lando as well. We were curious about his preference and what our pursuit should be.”
We did not inquire about whether you thought it would be difficult or not, but it was also a factor to consider.
“However, the question that arose while consulting with Lando or making a decision alongside Lando was whether it would be challenging to use the C2 compound in these circumstances.”
Stella conceded that Verstappen had demonstrated the successful use of tougher compounds to achieve higher speed. However, the team opted not to make that decision for Norris and instead decided to involve their driver in the decision-making process.
More on McLaren’s British Grand Prix
Andrea Stella gives ‘greedy’ McLaren verdict after several Silverstone strategy errors
‘This is where McLaren made a mistake’ – The key error that cost Lando Norris
“I think this one was a decision that […] we should have taken,” Stella said.
The comparison was made between the team’s decision not to doublestack its drivers and McLaren’s choice to pit Norris instead of Oscar Piastri. As a result, Piastri had to navigate the track on his own, causing him to lose precious time. Stella believed that this situation presented an ideal moment for the team to assertively select its drivers.
Stella expressed that we should have taken on the responsibility of saying, “The medium is the perfect choice for our needs, let’s go for it.”
“I believe that by consulting with Lando, we started doubting ourselves, ultimately causing us to follow his guidance, which, in hindsight, was not ideal.”
Although a third place for Norris and a fourth for Piastri isn’t a bad outcome, it can be quite frustrating considering that McLaren is clearly fast and capable of winning races.
Read next: Uncovered: The Max Verstappen data that gives McLaren a valuable strategy lesson
