A sign of weakness? McLaren strategy under scrutiny after Imola calls

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After Max Verstappen’s latest upset victory for Red Bull at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, McLaren’s strategic calls are once more under scrutiny.

Verstappen passed pole-sitter Oscar Piastri for the lead on the first lap, but still had major work to do to secure victory with the other McLaren of Lando Norris soon passing George Russell for third.

While Verstappen’s pace was undoubtedly quicker than just about anyone at Imola expected, McLaren arguably made the Dutchman’s life easier with several calls during the race.

First came their decision to pit world championship leader Piastri, who trailed Verstappen by less than three seconds at the time, as early as lap 13, effectively locking him in to a two-stop strategy.

That backfired as several of the other front-runners, including Verstappen and Norris out front, stayed out and found more life in their tyres to move into a one-stop strategy window while Piastri had to battle his way through traffic.

McLaren then pitted Norris, before Verstappen had stopped, at the end of lap 28, only for a Virtual Safety Car to be implemented just moments later when Esteban Ocon stopped on track.

This was undoubtedly unfortunate for McLaren, with there being no way to predict such an occurrence, but the longer a driver stays out, the more chance they have of benefitting from a such an interruption.

Verstappen subsequently doubled his lead from about 10 to 20 seconds, and then appeared to be cruising to victory as Norris and Piastri followed with big gaps between them.

However, another incident – Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli stopping out on track with a technical failure – triggered a full Safety Car and gave McLaren a chance to pressure Verstappen once more.

With more than a pit-stop’s advantage over Norris, Verstappen pitted from the lead, and Norris followed suit behind.

However, Piastri stayed out and emerged in front of Norris, but was then in front of his team-mate on hard tyres that were 16 laps older than the Brit’s fresh set.

It was unrealistic that Piastri would be able to challenge Verstappen given the Red Bull also had fresh tyres, while it also seemed highly likely that Norris would be able to pass his team-mate in the 10-lap sprint to the finish.

McLaren therefore had the option of instructing Piastri to allow Norris through to attack Verstappen in the closing stages, but didn’t.

Villeneuve: McLaren showed weakness

In the end, Norris passed Piastri for second and Verstappen won comfortably, leading former F1 world champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jacques Villeneuve to question their decision.

Villeneuve said: “They show weakness. Basically, they don’t show the strength that Red Bull are always showing year after year.

“It’s as if they’re afraid to be aggressive in trying to win the Drivers’ Championship, and they’re afraid to go against Piastri. It’s really, really odd.

“Piastri messed up that first corner. He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of the corner second and then he didn’t have the pace, which was odd. Norris had more pace.

“On the restart, McLaren knew that it was a matter of laps before Norris would have taken Piastri with the tyre difference, it was obvious.

“100 per cent sure he would get ahead, so why make him lose three laps instead of giving him a shot at Verstappen?”

The result saw Norris reduce Piastri’s lead at the top of the drivers’ standings to 13 points, while Verstappen closed to within 22 points of the lead in third.

Villeneuve continued: “Because Verstappen is in for the championship. You don’t want to give Verstappen wins. That’s more points for him in the Drivers’ Championship.

“They seem to be happy with second and third. Maclaren has a car where a good weekend means first and second. Anything less is a bit disappointing. First and third is fairly acceptable, but they seem happy with second and third.

“That weakness thing. You can see it also in the strategy. When Norris went long, why do you pit him?

“You made the decision to go long. You stay on the track. Your pace is still good. So why pit a little bit early? It’s as if you’re afraid to go for it.

“They didn’t take advantage of the virtual safety car. At the end of the day, with the other safety car, it didn’t make a difference. But still, it shows that lack of ‘let’s go for it.'”

Norris, Stella defend McLaren decisions

While letting Norris through would have undoubtedly given McLaren a better chance of victory, the reality is that Piastri would have been highly unlikely to want to allow his team-mate the chance to force a 10-point swing in the standings, which would have happened had they have finished first and third.

Norris appeared to understand the team’s thinking and praised the pit wall for doing “a good job”.

“I was on better tyres, but I didn’t expect anything,” Norris told Sky Sports F1. “It was still a tough fight. It was close into turn one. It’s the way it should be, of course.

“I lose time through that, and then he loses time, but it’s what we have to do in order to battle for a championship.

“If you try and make someone happy, the other one’s going to be unhappy, so it’s the way it is.

“I think we handled it well, and it was a good job by the team.”

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed that he had considered ordering a switch before deciding against it.

“It was definitely a thought,” he told Sky Sports F1.

“We want to have Oscar having his own chances at the restart. So we assumed the principle if Lando was able to pass Max he should have been able to pass Oscar pretty easily considering he was on fairly old tyres.

“In reality, if the pace delta was enough things would have taken care of themselves. We are happy with how things unfolded.

“Both drivers are happy, think that was fair and that’s the way we go racing.”

Chadwick: Too soon for team orders

Three-time W Series champion and Sky Sports F1 pundit Jamie Chadwick believes it’s too early in the season for McLaren to enforce team orders, as they would risk damaging team chemistry.

She said: “It’s the case of having two number one drivers. It’s because there’s not an obvious standout. I think if Red Bull had another driver that was of equal talent to Max, then it would be probably the same headache there.

“It’s a good problem to have. We’ve discussed that. It’s not a bad thing that they’ve got two great drivers fighting for a world championship, but they can’t start putting in those orders so soon that one of the drivers is already going to get the hump with the other one.

“It’s tricky. I think there will be a clash at some point. I think we can pre-empt that already. If you even look at today, it already got close.

“I think when that happens, that’s when McLaren are going to have to handle it. Until then, I think they’re playing a good team game.

“They’re leading the Constructors’ Championship. Max outraced them today – we’ve grown to expect that – and I think that’s how it worked out.”

Next up in F1’s European triple-header is the Jewel in the Crown, the Monaco Grand Prix on May 23-25, with coverage starting this Friday live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

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