McLaren boss Andrea Stella has defended the maligned call to send Lando Norris out on track first during a turbulent Q3 for the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Qualifying at the Baku City Circuit was eventful with six interruptions at various points of the session, causing teams to attempt different strategies to maximise their chances in the final 12 minutes of qualifying.
After Oscar Piastri’s crash triggered the second early stoppage in Q3, team-mate Norris was the first to hit the track once the green flag was waved.
However, on his flying lap, the Brit brushed the wall at Turn 15, contributing towards a meagre seventh place on the grid for the race.
Norris, who had the chance to create a bigger gap between himself and his chief title rival, now sits just two places ahead of Piastri, with the team also seeking to wrap up the Constructors’ Championship.
The Brit reflected that the call was perhaps a “mistake,” and that it made him “look like the loser” when he could have looked a hero.
But Stella defended the call, telling Sky Sports F1: “There was a bit of pressure with time, there’s a pressure with yellow flags.
“So, I think in our condition, it was important to put a lap together. Ultimately, the lap didn’t come as well as we wanted.
“But being first gives you the safety from a yellow flag point of view, you can control the warm-up of the tyres on the out-lap.”
Stella weighs up pros and cons of McLaren-Norris decision
Stella highlighted the risks of waiting in such unpredictable conditions, and based on the session up until that point, he believed Norris’ last chance at a banker lap could have been destroyed if they had waited.
“We thought that was alright from that point of view, it was just more a matter of executing the lap,” he explained.
However, in hindsight, both Norris and McLaren agreed that the choice left them on the wrong side of Baku’s fine margins.
With both papaya within the top 10 and an unpredictable race ahead, there is still a feeling that anything is possible.
READ MORE – Why Lando Norris looks like ‘a loser’ after crucial McLaren qualifying ‘mistake’
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