McLaren emerged as the major loser from the Qatar Grand Prix. Despite securing a second and fourth place for Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris respectively, the team lost ground to Max Verstappen. A strategic blunder cost Piastri the lead to the Dutchman, and Norris missed out on the podium. Team boss Andrea Stella attempted to explain where things went wrong for McLaren.
In Qatar, McLaren was the only team that did not opt for a free pit stop during an early safety car. As all drivers were required to stop twice, this decision backfired on the British racing team. Max Verstappen inherited the victory and overtook Piastri in the world championship. The Dutchman is now only twelve points behind Lando Norris; Piastri trails his British teammate by sixteen points.
“It’s generally a disappointing result,” Andrea Stella told Sky Sports. “Piastri could have won this race in principle, he deserved it too. He was the fastest in qualifying and in the sprint. Norris could have made it to the podium. But Piastri lost his victory and Norris finished outside the top three. That’s absolutely not the outcome we wanted,” Stella stated. “We will thoroughly evaluate the race, especially the decision made during the safety car. As usual, we will learn from this and take it into the next race, which will be even more important.” The championship decision will be made at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
Stella was explicitly asked why both McLarens did not pit during the safety car. “That was our own decision,” he replied. “To be honest, we didn’t expect everyone to pit. When you’re driving the lead car, you don’t know what the rest will do,” the Italian emphasized. “Norris could have lost a lot of time if we had called both cars in with a double stack. But the main reason is that we simply didn’t expect everyone to change tires. Based on that, we made our choice, although it turned out not to be the right one in retrospect.”
