"We did not expect everyone else to pit": McLaren reflect on Qatar strategy blunder

Written by Kavi Khandelwal

The mood in the McLaren garage after the Qatar Grand Prix was dominated by the sting of a crucial strategic error. Despite having the pace to convert Oscar Piastri’s pole position into a victory, and Lando Norris’s front-row start into a potential double podium, a critical safety car decision saw the team miss out, with Max Verstappen ultimately taking the win.

Credit: Formula One

Oscar Piastri, who finished P2 after starting on pole, was blunt about the missed opportunity, emphasizing the strength of his own performance.

"Feeling pretty **** as you can imagine. The pace was strong and I didn’t put a foot wrong. I just need to drive like I did this weekend, that was more than enough to dominate this weekend."

The Australian acknowledged the tricky position of relying on the pit wall, but his closing comments reflected the lingering disappointment of settling for second.

"I left it in the team’s hands to decide what to do as they have more information than I do. Clearly we did not get it right tonight. I drove as fast as I could but wasn’t to be. In hindsight it is pretty obvious what we should have done, but we’ll discuss that as a team. A little bit tough to swallow at the moment."

Lando Norris, who finished P4 after losing ground in the strategic shuffle, accepted the result with a philosophical tone, giving credit where it was due.

"It’s tough. We just have to have faith in the team making the right decision. It was us that took a gamble in a way. And we lost it, Oscar lost the win and I lost P2. Not our finest day, but that is life."

"[Red Bull] did a better job as a team, they made the right call. You can’t get them all right. We just need to do a better job, I’ll do my job and we’ll be fine."

McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella immediately owned the strategic oversight, confirming the cost to both drivers.

"It is a disappointing result overall. We had the potential to win the race with Oscar, and he deserved that. And the podium was available for Lando. So we lost the victory for Oscar and the podium for Lando. So, we need to review the decision we made with the Safety Car."

Stella elaborated on the nature of the miscalculation:

"It was a decision not to pit. We did not expect everyone else to pit. When you are the lead car, you do not know what everyone else will do. It would have been a loss to Lando with the double stack, but the decision was due to not expecting everyone else to pit."

Looking ahead to Abu Dhabi, the final race of the season, Stella confirmed that despite the championship implications, the policy of allowing both drivers to fight remains in place.

"We understand Oscar being extremely disappointed, as he did everything right. In terms of adapting the way we go racing, we want to keep the options open for both drivers. We have had the situation where the third one in the classification wins the Championship. We have to respect the fact that Oscar has his chances to win and let them race."