The team wanted to avoid a repeat of what happened when their drivers found themselves on the Suzuka circuit.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said the team wanted to avoid creating a “tense” situation with its strategy for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The team chose to swap Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who were using different tire strategies mid-race, to avoid losing time to George Russell in a one-stop strategy.
Norris ran a few laps behind Piastri before the team asked the Australian to move into his teammate’s position, so they could secure their podium without worrying about the threat from Mercedes or Ferrari.
This contrasted with their scenario at Monza, where Norris lost time behind Piastri and was ultimately unable to pass Alex Albon due to Williams’ superior advantage on the straight. The team was also in the spotlight after the Hungarian GP, when it emerged that they had given Norris a better strategy by allowing him to use an undercut to pass Piastri.
Stella: We wanted to see if overtaking could happen naturally
“It was much easier [in Japan] than those situations. Both of those situations were stressful – especially the situation in Monza,” Stella told the media.
“When I say tension, I mean we created tension between the two drivers that we could have avoided. It’s something we’ve considered, it could happen again in the future.” hybrid, but when we can avoid it we should avoid it.” “In this case, the approach is to see how quickly Lando approaches and see if overtaking happens naturally.
“When it feels uncomfortable, we ask the riders to change places so as not to waste both of their racing time.”
Stella said he wanted the drivers to overtake “naturally” on the track, having previously said he would not object to them racing.
“If overtaking occurs naturally, there is no need to instruct the driver. So we wanted to see if this was possible.”
“But honestly, between ‘Let’s see if this happens naturally’ and the coaching, there’s only one round. I think it’s as fair as possible.”