McLaren has explained that an attempt to get Oscar Piastri ahead of Charles Leclerc was behind pitting him before Lando Norris in Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix.
Norris was running in second place on the road, two places ahead of his team-mate, in the early stages when McLaren opted to service Piastri first at the end of Lap 9.
This granted Piastri the chance to undercut Norris, who pitted for the first time four laps later and proceeded to close at an expeditious rate on the sister MCL38 car.
Although a team order would ensure Norris was manoeuvred ahead, the Briton contended that McLaren missed opportunities to beat Leclerc’s Ferrari to second place.
Stella has clarified that the Woking-based squad had decided to stop Piastri first against usual protocol with the intention of getting both its cars ahead of the Ferrari.
“We chose the aggressive strategy with Oscar to get past Leclerc,” Stella said. “But Ferrari apparently listened to our radio and brought in their driver at the same time.”
Norris commented that McLaren would have to review whether it could have returned the favour on Ferrari at the second round of stops with an undercut on Leclerc.
However, Stella has shielded the strategists from criticism, citing that McLaren chose to postpone Norris’ stops on each occasion to uphold an advantage at the end.
“It was so early in the race. Nobody knew how the Hard tyres would behave, which nobody had driven in training,” he added.
“We didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks with Lando. In a race with a lot of tyre wear you usually regain the position at the end.
“The main reason we didn’t succeed was because the Ferrari was the faster car today. But the difference wasn’t big.”
McLaren had used team orders against Piastri to allow the faster Norris through on three occasions last season in the Hungarian, Italian and Japanese Grands Prix.
Stella had admitted following the race in Suzuka – where McLaren landed a double podium – that the Woking-based squad would avoid intervening where possible.
Norris asserted that he would have passed Piastri on track regardless, while the Australian accepted that the decision was in the best interests of the team’s result.
