McLaren boss Andrea Stella explained a myriad of factors that prevented the team from pitting Lando Norris on an alternate lap to eventual Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen.
The Japanese GP was a case of follow the leader, as Norris and Oscar Piastri couldn’t put any real pressure on Verstappen.
Norris was the closest challenger, and with no option of overtaking on track, an undercut or overcut could have presented a path to victory.
Instead, McLaren chose to pit Norris on Lap 22, together with Verstappen and a lap later than third-place man Piastri.
Speaking to select media, including Motorsport Week, Stella explained why neither an undercut nor an overcut was on the cards for Norris.
“It’s unclear whether we could, but I think pitting Lando [earlier] would have meant that we could not pit Oscar, and this would have been a problem for Oscar,” Stella said, before noting the threat from behind.
“Oscar would have waited, which I think would have been a problem with the cars, especially [George] Russell, that pitted and that we needed to cover.”
True enough, there was never a big enough margin to the cars behind to give McLaren flexibility with its two cars.
Safety Car risk ruked out undercut strategy for Norris and McLaren
The Safety Car risk associated with executing an undercut with Norris was too severe, with Stella arguing the low degradation at Suzuka meant any lost ground to the likes of Mercedes or Ferrari was unrecoverable.
“We will obviously review the gaps in terms of time to understand whether there was the possibility to go for an undercut with Lando that could actually be executed on Max,” he said.
“We don’t have to forget, though, that by giving up track positions, you also expose the car that you pit to safety car risk, for instance.
“Lando would have lost positions in a safety car should a safety car be deployed.
“So in hindsight, you don’t see any safety car, you don’t see anything, and you think ‘oh, yeah I might have gone for the undercut,’ but an undercut attempt comes with some risks.
“And it was apparent that the degradation was low, so I think if you lose position with a safety car, it’s lost.
“I don’t think we could have overtaken a Ferrari or a Mercedes today.”
Norris shares McLaren’s take on Japan strategy calls
This was an opinion Norris shared, saying in the post-race press conference, “If I boxed three laps earlier or two laps earlier, and a Safety Car comes out, then we look stupid.”
He also discredited the option of an overcut, adding, “I don’t think I could have gone longer because I would have lost position.”
This was the same reason Stella gave for discrediting the option of Norris extending his opening stint longer than Verstappen.
Losing track position is the very same reason why Stella felt an overcut wouldn’t have worked for Norris either.
“I think the problem for Lando would be that he would have lost positions to some other cars, including Oscar,” he said.
“Because they had pitted and they were faster, and if you stay out on a 20-lap used Medium, you cannot be faster than somebody that pitted on a Hard.
“The situation became very clear when Russell pitted, and he was very fast on a new Hard.
“Then it was apparent that the Hard was working well.
“I think the overcut works well when you know that you gain like in Barcelona or, Suzuka in the past, you know you gain four five laps of tyre delta and then when you pit, even if you pit behind the car that stopped before, you will pass him because you have better tyres.”
However, with Suzuka being resurfaced, the minimal degradation would out any notion of an overcut coming off positively.
“The tyres almost don’t degrade at all from one lap to the other,” Stella said.
“We kept seeing purple sectors and purple laps until the final lap.
“So it’s a low degradation race.”
With both Norris and Piastri having rued the consequences of being out-qualified by Verstappen, Stella acknowledged, “qualifying becomes very relevant when you have this type of race.”
READ MORE – Lando Norris: McLaren didn’t have enough to beat Max Verstappen to Japan pole
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