McLaren boss Andrea Stella explained why Oscar Piastri was placed on a two-stop strategy early on during the Formula 1 Emilia-Romanga Grand Prix at Imola.
The title-leader started the race from pole, but whilst defending George Russell’s advances into Tamburello, left space open for Max Verstappen to swoop around the outside to take the lead, one which he did not relinquish.
Piastri fell victim to the deployment of both a Virtual and full Safety Car, and was forced into a position in which he was required to overtake cars to try and get back into contention.
Placed on Hard tyres, Piastri set about trying to reduce the deficit, but Verstappen’s long stint on Mediums saw him able to cruise to victory, with Piastri ultimately settling for third behind team-mate Lando Norris, who overtook him late on.
Speaking after the race, Stella said that the team pivoted to a two-stop in the hope it would decrease the gap, and showed no contrition despite the gamble failing.
“Well, I think at the time Oscar’s tyres were going off by a good chunk and Oscar was passing some feedback that that was the case,” Stella told media including Motorsport Week.
“It was unclear entering this event whether it would have been a one or a two. If it was a two, that was the time to go.
“And if the Hard tyres had behaved just a little bit better, then the two would have been a very strong strategy, despite having to overtake some other cars.
“But once he went on Hard tyres, actually it wasn’t much faster than Lando and Max that stayed out on the used Medium.
“So I think the Hard tyres were a little less competitive than we thought, but we needed to deviate and create the condition to beat Max today.
“So I think this is something that you can only judge in hindsight, but if you deviate, that was the time to go for a two-stop. So no regrets and ultimately for the team it’s the same outcome and for Oscar it could have been the way to win and sometimes when you take some risks to win, there may be a little bit of a downside.”
Safety Car played pivotal role for McLaren at Imola
Stella said that there was a sense of deception in the degradation of the first set of tyres for many drivers, but the deployment of the Safety Car did ultimately make a huge difference to the race for those who opted to run longer.
“In the first stint, somehow if you went through a phase in which the tyres looked like they were degrading heavily,” he said, “then they actually had something more to offer, which is the reason why Lando, Max and some other drivers were going for a one-stop, but certainly there was a phase in which the tyres seemed to go off, which is where other drivers deviated onto a two, including Oscar.
“And then the tyres were a factor because at the Safety Car restart, it was more the fact that the tyres did degrade, so cars on a new tyre could overtake the cars that didn’t change tyres in Safety Car.
“I think this is where the tyres played a role in this weekend, but in terms of warm up, firing up the tyres, I think there wasn’t much today.”
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