McLaren Formula 1 boss Andrea Stella has revealed that the team considered opting for a one-stop race following the red flag at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix.
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri started on the Medium compound but the race was suspended on the first lap amid a crash between Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo.
McLaren remained on the same rubber for the standing restart, with Norris rising into a net second place when he executed an undercut on Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
However, the Briton dropped to fifth as McLaren’s aggressive strategic choices failed to mitigate its clear pace deficit as Perez and the Ferrari drivers finished ahead.
Mercedes had utilised the nascent stoppage to change onto the Hard compound with the intent to eliminate a pit stop, but poor pace forced it to revert to a two-stop.
Asked whether McLaren had contemplated trialling a single stop with either driver, Stella said “So, with us having two sets of Hards, the one-stop wasn’t a consideration.
“It was actually a consideration under red flag. Even when it was on Mercedes starting on a Hard, we thought maybe they’re going to try a double hard, but the degradation is too high.
“And even Mercedes, they needed to go on a two-stop. I think the one-stop, while it looks like attractive, because you do one step less, is a slower strategy.
“And if you stay on an optimal two, you regain all the time, just because of how high the degradation is.”
Charles Leclerc was able to divert onto a one-stop to rise from eighth to fourth place, but Stella believes that his progress reflected the race pace Ferrari possessed.
“So, Ferrari makes it work, good for them, but it’s not like attempting a one-stop,” the Italian, 53, continued. “You gain race time. Race time comes with car pace.”
Norris lost out to the Ferraris when McLaren chose to pit Norris for the second time right behind Leclerc, with Carlos Sainz passing both on fresher rubber at the end.
Having denied that McLaren made an error covering Leclerc with Norris, Stella believes that the respective pace of the cars filtered through to the final classification.
“I think you can do something against Ferrari, with today’s level of competitiveness, only if you are in a track in which you can keep people behind,” he expanded.
“But here the degradation is so high and the overtaking is relatively possible.
“Therefore, you really need, like the finishing order normally is just the car pace, unless you have really something going wrong.
“So, I don’t think today it was possible to do much more, to finish on a podium in particular.”
While a mistake on the penultimate lap cost Oscar Piastri seventh to George Russell, McLaren outscored Mercedes and Aston Martin for the fourth straight round.
The British outfit now retains a 35-point advantage over Mercedes in the battle for third in the Constructors’ Championship, with Aston Martin a further point adrift.
“We are happy we are a third-best scoring team, once again consolidating third position in the championship. That is a positive outcome,” Stella added.
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