Following Max Verstappen`s recent victory for Red Bull at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, McLaren`s tactical decisions during the race are once again facing scrutiny.
Although Verstappen quickly took the lead from pole-sitter Oscar Piastri on the first lap, securing the win still required significant effort, especially with Lando Norris in the other McLaren soon moving up to third place.
While Verstappen`s speed at Imola exceeded most expectations, some strategic choices by McLaren arguably made his path to victory smoother.
One key decision was pitting Oscar Piastri, who was less than three seconds behind Verstappen, as early as lap 13. This move effectively committed him to a two-stop strategy.
However, this backfired as several competitors, including Verstappen and Norris at the front, extended their stints, preserving their tyres longer and entering a one-stop strategy window. Piastri, meanwhile, had to navigate through slower traffic.
Later, McLaren pitted Norris at the end of lap 28, just before a Virtual Safety Car was deployed due to Esteban Ocon`s car stopping.
This timing was undoubtedly unfortunate for McLaren, as there was no way to predict such an occurrence. However, the longer a driver stays out, the greater the chance they have of benefiting from such an interruption.
The VSC allowed Verstappen to double his lead, appearing set for a comfortable win with significant gaps to Norris and Piastri.
However, another incident – Kimi Antonelli`s technical failure leading to a full Safety Car – presented McLaren with a renewed opportunity to challenge Verstappen.
With a lead of more than a pit stop over Norris, Verstappen pitted from first place, and Norris followed immediately.
Oscar Piastri remained on track, finding himself ahead of Norris but on hard tyres that were 16 laps older than his teammate`s fresh set.
It seemed improbable that Piastri, on older tyres, could challenge Verstappen, who also had new rubber. It also appeared highly likely that Norris, on fresher tyres, would easily pass his teammate in the final 10 laps.
McLaren had the option to instruct Piastri to let Norris through to mount an attack on Verstappen in the closing stages but chose not to.
Villeneuve: McLaren showed weakness
In the end, Norris overtook Piastri for second place, and Verstappen secured a comfortable victory. Former F1 world champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jacques Villeneuve criticized McLaren`s decisions, viewing them as signs of weakness.
Villeneuve stated: “They show weakness. Basically, they don’t show the strength that Red Bull are always showing year after year.”
“It`s as if they`re afraid to be aggressive in trying to win the Drivers` Championship, and they`re afraid to go against Piastri. It’s really, really odd.”
“Piastri messed up that first corner. He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of the corner second and then he didn`t have the pace, which was odd. Norris had more pace.”
“On the restart, McLaren knew that it was a matter of laps before Norris would have taken Piastri with the tyre difference, it was obvious.”
“100 per cent sure he would get ahead, so why make him lose three laps instead of giving him a shot at Verstappen?”
He continued his criticism: “Because Verstappen is in for the championship. You don`t want to give Verstappen wins. That`s more points for him in the Drivers` Championship.”
“They seem to be happy with second and third. McLaren has a car where a good weekend means first and second. Anything less is a bit disappointing. First and third is fairly acceptable, but they seem happy with second and third.”
“That weakness thing. You can see it also in the strategy. When Norris went long, why do you pit him?”
“You made the decision to go long. You stay on the track. Your pace is still good. So why pit a little bit early? It`s as if you`re afraid to go for it.”
“They didn`t take advantage of the virtual safety car. At the end of the day, with the other safety car, it didn`t make a difference. But still, it shows that lack of `let`s go for it.`”
Norris, Stella defend McLaren decisions
While letting Norris through would have undoubtedly given McLaren a better chance of victory, the reality is that Piastri would have been highly unlikely to want to allow his team-mate the chance to force a significant points swing in the standings.
Norris appeared to understand the team`s thinking and praised the pit wall for doing `a good job`.
`I was on better tyres, but I didn`t expect anything,` Norris told Sky Sports F1. `It was still a tough fight. It was close into turn one. It`s the way it should be, of course.
`I lose time through that, and then he loses time, but it`s what we have to do in order to battle for a championship.
`If you try and make someone happy, the other one`s going to be unhappy, so it`s the way it is.
`I think we handled it well, and it was a good job by the team.`
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed that he had considered ordering a switch before deciding against it.
`It was definitely a thought,` he told Sky Sports F1.
`We want to have Oscar having his own chances at the restart. So we assumed the principle if Lando was able to pass Max he should have been able to pass Oscar pretty easily considering he was on fairly old tyres.`
`In reality, if the pace delta was enough things would have taken care of themselves. We are happy with how things unfolded.`
`Both drivers are happy, think that was fair and that`s the way we go racing.`
Chadwick: Too soon for team orders
Three-time W Series champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick believes it`s too early in the season for McLaren to enforce team orders, as they would risk damaging team chemistry.
She said: `It`s the case of having two number one drivers. It`s because there`s not an obvious standout. I think if Red Bull had another driver that was of equal talent to Max, then it would be probably the same headache there.`
`It`s a good problem to have. We`ve discussed that. It`s not a bad thing that they`ve got two great drivers fighting for a world championship, but they can`t start putting in those orders so soon that one of the drivers is already going to get the hump with the other one.`
`It`s tricky. I think there will be a clash at some point. I think we can pre-empt that already. If you even look at today, it already got close.`
`I think when that happens, that`s when McLaren are going to have to handle it. Until then, I think they`re playing a good team game.`
She concluded that Verstappen ultimately outraced them on the day, and “that`s how it worked out.”
Marcus Prine