1 week Ago By Oliver Harden
Andrea Stella has insisted that McLaren are prepared to make Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri “a little upset” if the team are forced to take tough strategy decisions over the course of F1 2025. And he says it is a matter of ‘when’ – not ‘if’ – after McLaren were accused of being too cautious at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix. After claiming one win apiece in Australia and China, Norris and Piastri were forced to settle for second and third at Suzuka after Red Bull driver and reigning World Champion Max Verstappen produced an impressive performance.
With the top three separated by just over two seconds at the chequered flag, most agreed that McLaren had by far the fastest car in Japan, with the team’s strategic caution blamed for their defeat to Verstappen. McLaren took the unusual step of pitting Norris on the same lap as Verstappen at Suzuka rather than staying out to give the British driver the benefit of clean air at the front of the field. 👉 Japanese GP conclusions: Verstappen’s Alonso-esque rampage, McLaren tactics, the real Doohan mistake 👉 McLaren’s strategy indecision is the biggest threat to their title chances It is believed that the lack of tyre degradation on race day swayed McLaren’s decision to pit Norris at that stage given that he was unlikely to gain an advantage from extending his first stint.
In the closing laps of the race, meanwhile, McLaren opted to keep Norris ahead of Piastri despite the latter appearing to be quicker at that phase. The criticism of McLaren’s tactics comes after the team were frequently accused of blowing opportunities to win races last season. Speaking to media including PlanetF1.
com ahead of this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, Stella insisted that McLaren are “very aware” that tough decisions will have to be made at some point during F1 2025, with the team prepared to leave one driver “a little bit upset” in order to prioritise the team. Asked if he is prepared to upset his drivers with firm calls, he said: “I can’t exclude that. This may happen.
“There’s advantages of having two extremely competitive drivers. I think the advantage in the long term is dominant. That’s what you want, in my view.
“But there could be, episodically, some situations which may leave one of the two drivers a little upset because the team needed to make a decision or because of how the race unfolded. “So we are very aware of this. “Internally, we don’t talk like ‘[what about] if’ this happens.
We talk when this happens because we are aware it’s a very difficult business. “We are aware as a team and Lando and Oscar as well.” Stella went to admit that McLaren identified “opportunities” to get ahead of Verstappen in the early stages of the Japanese GP with all carrying a “significant amount of risk” of their drivers losing positions by being stuck in traffic.
And with Norris and Piastri likely to compete directly for the F1 2025 title, he acknowledged that having two winning drivers increases the “complexity” of McLaren’s decision on the pit wall. He said: “In terms of the race at Suzuka, like always we took a good look at where the opportunities could be to win the race. “I think the opportunities, if anything, were identified in the early phase of the race where we could have been potentially more aggressive in attempting to undercut Max.
“This would have not been executed without a significant amount of risks of going in traffic at a circuit in which you have no higher degradation and difficulties to overtake. “It could have gone pretty wrong in case of a Safety Car and in an attempt to win you may lose a few positions. “So it’s the normal kind of trade offs that you have when you manage race strategy, but we need to be wary that Suzuka in 2025 wasn’t the usual Suzuka.
“I think many people who make comment, I think, struggle to realise that it’s a different context. “Anyhow, we looked open minded and potentially the opportunity was in this early stage of the race. “When it comes to having to McLarens up there, does it increase the complexity? Yes.
Does it increase the opportunity? Yes. “We worked hard to have these opportunities in terms of having multiple cars – two cars – that can win races and also making sure that we can have two drivers that are in contention for both Championships.” 👉 Lando Norris news 👉 Oscar Piastri news Stella denied that McLaren would have handled the Japanese GP differently even if was held at a later stage of the year, but conceded that there is a tendency to “let some races unfold” naturally in the early weeks of F1 2025.
He said: “If we use Suzuka as an example, I don’t think we would have approached that race very differently if it was located in a different time of the season. “Unless it’s the last race of the season and championships are decided, then you may go for a very aggressive one and say: ‘OK, let’s try to win.’ “It can go very wrong.
“Obviously, at the start of the season, you don’t approach things like this. But in general, I would like to stress that the downsides of an aggressive strategy in that case could have been quite considerable. “There’s a bit of influence, if you want, of it being at the start of the season and let some some races unfold, learn a bit more, but not substantial.
” Read next: ‘Direct hit’ for Max Verstappen after Lando Norris ‘bite’ catches Brundle’s eye.
