Norris Explains Pit Stop Decision After Race
After the race, McLaren faced questions about whether pitting on the following lap was the optimal call or if Lando Norris should have stayed out. Norris defended the decision, stating: “I had to come in at the end of the lap because it was the only chance.”
He elaborated on the trade-offs: “It was still effectively some pit loss, (but) the fact that everyone’s kind of on colder tyres and you’re still minimising the pit loss.” Norris highlighted the tyre performance disparity: “The medium tyre (on which Norris had started the race) was destroyed and the hard tyre (to which Antonelli and Verstappen switched) was amazing.”
Despite the outcome, Norris pointed to strong pace: “But the pace was very, very strong and on the hard tyre… I know they were stuck (behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who stayed out under the VSC), we caught up 13, 14 seconds or more, almost. So, plenty of positives. A day full of positives, just one thing let it all down.”
Stella Analyzes Strategy Options
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella confirmed the team evaluated staying out: “We considered staying out, but you have to accept the fact that now you are on relatively used medium tyres. And the people behind you will be on new hard. So you’re never going to open a gap on people on new hard.”
Anticipating the VSC: Risk vs Reward
Another question was whether McLaren should have anticipated the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) and pitted Norris before its deployment. Stella admitted: “In hindsight, that would have been a good idea.”
However, he emphasized the real-time risks, noting the Madring circuit’s long pit lane — the longest on the calendar — meant a pit stop carried a significant time penalty. Stella said: “I would have to review with my engineers, see whether it was kind of obvious that it would end up in a virtual safety car. Therefore, you try to anticipate or not.”
He detailed the specific danger: “Here, the problem is that you need to be extremely careful, because it’s 27 seconds if you don’t pit under a virtual safety car.”
Stella explained the consequence of a wrong prediction: “So if you get it wrong, it would be extremely penalising. From the lead, you pit unnecessarily, and now you have lost the victory.”
He outlined the team’s guiding principle: “So a good rule is to respond to what is a fact, to what is the real condition of the circuit.”
Looking ahead, Stella said: “But we will definitely take a look as to whether in these conditions it was just simply, you know, obvious that he would end up in a virtual safety car. I cannot answer at the moment.”
