McLaren explain Qatar GP strategy blunder as Lando Norris complains | F1 | Sport

Max Verstappen secured what turned out to be a comfortable Qatar Grand Prix victory after a questionable tactical call from McLaren proved to hamstring their drivers. Oscar Piastri started on pole but he and Lando Norris lost out in an early safety car period in which Red Bull chose to pit their driver.

Crucially, McLaren decided against it, leaving both their drivers out on track. With the 25-lap maximum rule in force for thise race over tyre safety issues, the team wanted to keep their options open but, by doing so, failed to take advantage of the cheap pit stop being offered by the appearance of the safety car.

Piastri and Norris were the only ones who stayed out on track and the latter in particular was vocal in his critcism of that decision. Over the radio, he asked his race engineer Will Joseph: “We should have just followed him in, no? If we knew the car ahead was staying out.”

In response, Joseph explained the reason why McLaren had opted against following Verstappen and the rest of the field into the pit lane. He told his driver: “They have lose all of their flexibility for the remainder of the race.”

Though that was the case, there were no more dramatic moments and Verstappen was able to make full use of the track position that McLaren ceded to him to take victory. It means the championship remains wide open to all three drivers heading into the Abu Dhabi season finale, with Piastri finishing second and Norris only fourth behind Carlos Sainz in the Williams.

Norris had been running fifth in the latter stages until Kimi Antonelli went wide and opened the door for the Brit to drive through. And that could end up being crucial in the outcome of the championship, as the two points Norris gained mean he can still win the title by finishing third in Abu Dhabi, regardless of the results secured by his rivals.

Piastri has now slipped to third in the championship and has a 16-point gap to close to Norris, meaning if he wins the Abu Dhabi race then he needs his team-mate to finish sixth or lower. Speaking over the radio after taking the chequered flag, he said he had “no words” for the mistake his team had made, while McLaren bosses declined interviews in the pit lane until they had got together to talk about how they got the call so wrong.

Speaking in parc ferme, Piastri said: “We didn’t get it right tonight. I drove the best race I could as fast as I could, but there was nothing left out there. I did my best but it wasn’t to be tonight, unfortunately. In hindsight, I think it’s pretty obvious what we should have done but I’m sure we’ll discuss it as a team.”