Analysis of McLaren’s Strategy in the Qatar Grand Prix
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has explained the reasons behind his team’s strategic error at the Qatar Grand Prix, promising to learn from this experience. The decision not to pit Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris during a safety car period in Qatar ultimately opened the door for Max Verstappen to win the race, depriving Piastri of a crucial victory in the fight for the championship. This strategic error could have significant implications for McLaren, as Verstappen’s victory put him ahead of Piastri in the drivers’ standings and just 12 points behind the championship leader, Norris, with one race remaining. Stella revealed that McLaren missed the opportunity to bring their cars into the pits on lap 7, worried that Piastri, who ultimately finished second, and Norris, who finished fourth, would get stuck in traffic if rival teams chose to stay on the track. However, all the other cars in the race pitted during the safety car period, which meant that McLaren was leading when the race resumed, but was one pit stop behind its rivals, including Verstappen.
Oscar Piastri started on pole and finished second in the race.
Stella added: “Everyone pitted, and this made our stay on the track incorrect from the point of view of the race result. As I say, because Verstappen was fast, and also because the tire degradation was low, ultimately, this decision was significantly penalizing because clearly Oscar was in control of the race and deserved to win it, and we also lost the podium.” When asked why McLaren’s race reading was so wrong, Stella stated that the team would have to review their decision and learn lessons.“Indeed, we conceded a pit stop to a rival who was fast today,” said Stella. “Obviously, we did it for a reason and the reason was that we didn’t want to end up in traffic after the pit stop, but obviously all the other cars and teams had a different opinion in relation to a safety car on lap 7.”
Andrea Stella
Stella concluded: “Races are tough, races can give you tough lessons, but this is the story of champions. This is just the story of Formula 1, this is the true nature of racing. We are disappointed, but as soon as we start the review, we will be even more determined to learn from our lessons, adapt and be stronger as a team.” A theory as to why McLaren chose not to pit on lap 7 was that Norris, who was third at the time of the safety car, would be disadvantaged by having to queue behind Piastri in the garage. “Well, certainly for Lando there was the additional consideration, as you say, of losing additional time due to the double pit stop,” explained Stella. “So, it was in the consideration, but it wasn’t the main reason for not stopping both cars. We thought that the traffic might have been a problem for both cars and, as I said before, actually, that wasn’t the correct interpretation of the situation at that moment that we should have had.” McLaren boss Zak Brown summed up his thoughts in a social media post after the race. “No excuses, we got it wrong today and take full responsibility, as we could have won that race with both drivers on the podium,” he said. “Both drivers deserved more. Oscar was dominant all weekend. It’s time to analyze, reset, and come back stronger in Abu Dhabi.”“I think in terms of the error of judgment, it’s something we’ll have to review, discussing internally,” he added. “We will have to evaluate some factors such as, for example, if there was a certain bias in the way we were thinking that led us as a group to think that not all cars would necessarily have entered the pits. Sometimes there are some objective reasons and sometimes there may be some biases in the way you think. We will have to go through the review in a very exhaustive way, but the important thing is that we do it as usual in a way that is constructive, analytical”.
Andrea Stella
