Lando Norris questioned McLaren’s strategy after being defeated by Max Verstappen on the Japanese Grand Prix.
Norris followed Verstappen for all 53 rounds around the Suzuka perimeter and stood in the same round as the Red Bull driver, almost fully drew beside him at the ascent of the pit, which was as close as he got to the lead.
The McLaren driver never got into one second from Verstappen to get DRS, because the latter perfectly managed his pace to claim his first victory of the Formula 1 2025 season.
“I saw Max quite clearly for the whole race, but I just couldn’t do any penetration, so I think in the clean air was enough to stay in this position and make no mistakes. He was driving a good race,” Norris said.
“The race was won yesterday in a backward view and I think we always know the better position you start, the more chance you have to win.
“But I think our pace was probably a little better, but it wasn’t enough to get through the dirty air, entered DRS, and then browsing is a completely different story, because it is largely impossible to go here.
“We tried some things. Maybe we could try a little more with the strategy. We have picked or submitted, for some reason we just wrapped on the same round. So some things we’re discussing for us, but good points for us as a team.
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Ted Kravitz from Sky F1 thought about all the big points talking from the Japanese Grand Prix
Piastri, running third, was the first of the leading runners to build instead, but was far enough to be a threat to Verstappen or Norrisa with a subcreded attempt.
“I probably should have tried to cut off, I think,” said Norris, who leads Verstappen just one point in the driver’s championship.
“The point is that there is always a risk of a security car and so on. I think I could go longer because I don’t think I would lose my position, so it wasn’t out of the cards.
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McLaren Oscar Piastri driver says that if he was allowed to get before teammate Lando Norris he could be able to attack Max Verstappen
“I think we should probably try to run the card and then try something else. But it just wasn’t today. So yeah what we’re going to talk about.
“Frankly, I think the undercut is not easy here, because it is not mega in the first sector. So whether it even worked, I’m not sure. And Max still had a little buffer for me.
Stella explains why Piastri first built
Last season, McLaren caused headaches on the Hungarian Grand Prix 2024 by first building Norrisa, even though Piastri led the race.
Unlike Hungary, Piastri underwent Norrisa in the Sunday race, but it almost forced Red Bull to react by building Verstappen.
Asked why Norris didn’t get a subordinate chance, McLaren Team, director Andrea Stell, said, “We could have (have), but I think Lando would mean we couldn’t build an Oscar, and that would be a problem for an Oscar.
“The Oscar would be waiting, which I think would be a problem with cars, especially Russell, which stood up and we had to cover.”
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Lando Norris and Max Verstappen Clash coming out of a pit leaving Norrisa in the grass when they fight for a position in Suzuce
The second option for Norris was to go longer than Verstappen to have fresher tires for the second half of the race, but Stella thinks it wouldn’t work.
“We saw that staying outside would not be faster than the reasons,” he added Sky Sports F1.
“We saw it from (Mercedes) George Russell, who was fast on hard tires after starting.
“It takes about eight tenths of a second to attack the car forward. As soon as you get into one second, you have drops of dirty air and performance. Today I think it wasn’t possible to overtake.”
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McLaren’s team director Andrea Stella explains why the Oscar Piastri was not ordered to interchange Lando Norris, despite the radio reports of the Australian claim “had a pace”.
Norris: Verstappen is the last guy I expect me to give me space
Norris almost jumped Verstappen in a drink lane after a slow stop from Red Bull led to last year’s protagonist title almost side by side at the climb.
Verstappen, however, was in front and Norris drove on the grass and claimed that he was “forced” on the radio.
“The guys just made a very good stop under pressure,” Norris said as he was thinking about the incident at a press conference.
“It was our one opportunity to try to approach a little. I didn’t even try to race with Max, I just tried to cut the grass! He didn’t even know he was there, actually! So no, nothing. He had a position and had the right to do what he did, so fair game.”
Verstappen was also half joking: “I think the grass was a little-it didn’t really be really well cut on the right side. So I think Lando also saw it and made sure she was nicely cut.”
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McLaren Lando Norris and Driver Red Bull Max Verstappen respond to their stop at the Japanese Grand Prix
Last year, McLaren particularly missed the victory in Montreal races, Silverstone and Sao Paulo partly because of strategic mistakes.
Verstappen watched Norrisa in three Grands Prix, but ended up in advance and won two of these races, which created a big point swing in the title race.
Although Stella does not declare that McLaren strategically made some mistakes, they missed a chance that three consecutive victories began with 2025 with the fastest car.
“The race was mostly decided yesterday. There were not many events in the race and we ended up with the same result as the qualification,” Stella said.
“We got a lot of points, so it was encouraging again for our car, but the others aren’t behind.”
Formula 1 continues its triple header in Sakhir for Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend 11.-13. April, lives on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – no contract whenever cancel
