Team principal Andrea Stella has shared his insights into the strategy choices and the execution that led to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri bringing home McLaren’s seventh 1-2 finish of the season at the F1 Hungarian GP on Sunday. They have now also won their 200th Grand Prix, making them only the second team after Ferrari to do so in Formula 1 history.
Although Charles Leclerc pipped the McLaren duo for pole position in Saturday’s qualifying, they managed to eventually turn their fortunes around the next day.
Lining up in second, Piastri managed to hold position as the race got underway at the Hungaroring circuit. While his attempt to undercut Leclerc during the first round of pit stops was unsuccessful, the Monégasque’s worsening car troubles and the two-stop strategy he was on meant that the only driver standing in the way of his victory was his McLaren teammate.
Meanwhile, after losing a couple of positions off the line and failing to overtake George Russell in the early stages of the race, Norris embarked on the alternative one-stop strategy and inherited the race lead once Piastri dived into the pits for the second time on Lap 45.
With significant tyre delta, the Australian was in hot pursuit of his teammate in the final laps. Despite a couple of aggressive lunges, Piastri couldn’t find a way past the other McLaren, and Norris took the chequered flag just 0.698s ahead to clinch his fifth win of the season.
After Round 14, Piastri’s lead in the Drivers’ Championship has now shrunk to nine points heading into the summer break.
How McLaren determined when to pit Piastri for the second time
Speaking in a print media session after the F1 race, Andrea Stella discussed the strategy that determined the timing of Oscar Piastri’s second pit stop at the Hungarian GP on Sunday.
Claiming that pitting the eight-time race winner earlier would’ve strengthened the odds of Lando Norris’s victory, the McLaren team principal elaborated that the pit wall intended to give Piastri a reasonable tyre advantage to not only pass Leclerc but also have a fighting chance of securing the win.
At the same time, Stella also acknowledged that the one-stop strategy ended up being on a par with the preferable two-stop in terms of effectiveness.
“Had we pitted Oscar [Piastri] before he might’ve ended up behind Lando [Norris] but we wanted to give Oscar enough of a tyre delta to pass Leclerc but also to have a fair chance on Lando because that would’ve meant being on an optimal two-stop.
“So we wanted to make sure that thinking about Leclerc we were not deviating too much of an optimal two-stop because that would’ve been unfair to Oscar in relation to his competition with Lando which was fair and we also checked with Oscar what his preference was. He certainly wanted to have an opportunity to win the race. and we thought that with enough tyre delta to Leclerc, Oscar would’ve had a chance anyhow.
“Actually let me say that the race unfolded pretty much as we hoped it would unfold in terms of tyre behaviour, which means tyres that lasted enough for one-stop when we decided to keep Lando out and also in the second stint tyres and a car base that would’ve allowed Oscar to pass Leclerc and then actually the two strategies proved to be quite equivalent.”
Stella proud of how McLaren let their two drivers race
Lap 69 of Sunday’s race saw Oscar Piastri make a late lunge, and the subsequent lock-up nearly led to a collision with his teammate, Lando Norris.
Asked whether the pit wall made different strategy calls for the two championship rivals at the F1 Hungarian GP to avoid such risky moments on track, Andrea Stella insisted that the racing between the McLaren pair was hard but fair. Furthermore, the proud 54-year-old asserted that their internal policy of letting the two drivers compete within reason celebrates the essence of the sport.
Acknowledging Ferrari’s competitiveness in the first 40 laps of the race and that he anticipates a riveting final half of the season, Stella also admitted that he is hopeful about the McLaren teammates settling the championship battle between themselves.
“It was fair racing at the same time; it was definitely within our principles. We had a bit of a lock-up with Oscar but at the same time Lando left some space because he knew that Oscar would have been at the limit of braking.
“We keep being very proud of how Lando and Oscar go racing. I think this is a great way of honouring Formula 1 racing; these are the values of McLaren.
“It’s going to be hopefully a matter between the two McLaren drivers, even if we saw Ferrari today was in the competition for the victory for two thirds of the races. I think we have a very entertaining and interesting final part of the season.”
Stella has high praise for both drivers’ performances on Sunday
With regard to how excellent Lando Norris’s drive was in the race, the McLaren team principal showered both drivers with praise following their 1-2 finish at Hungaroring.
Andrea Stella explained that the alternative strategy allowed Norris to run in clean air for a significant number of laps and maximise the potential of the MCL39 at the F1 Hungarian GP on Sunday. Meanwhile, he applauded Oscar Piastri for executing a compelling drive whilst acknowledging the time he had lost stuck behind Leclerc.
Proclaiming that the drivers are further refining their skills as the season progresses, the Italian additionally remarked that he expects the intense intra-team rivalry to continue until the last race in Abu Dhabi.
“I have to say that both drivers, Lando and Oscar, are driving at a very high level in absolute terms, when it comes to racecraft in Formula 1.
“As we see, it’s always very close. It’s always very marginal and if we take today in fairness, I think both will have to be happy with their driving.
“Lando found himself on a deviating strategy and he had more clean air, more laps in which he could use the full potential of the car. Oscar spent quite some time behind Leclerc; this might have cost him a bit of time.
“But I think both executed their race at the highest standards and I’m not surprised. They are both great drivers; they are both improving race by race and I’m sure they will keep doing this until the end of the season.”
McLaren had no pre-determined plans of splitting strategy
In terms of whether Lando Norris receiving the eventual race-winning strategy owing to his poor start at the F1 Hungarian GP was unfair to Oscar Piastri, Andrea Stella revealed that McLaren had considered the conventional two-stop the right call for both drivers before circumstances forced their hand.
The 54-year-old reiterated how they planned to overtake Leclerc with considerable tyre delta in the latter half of the race once Piastri’s initial undercut attempt had failed. He also elaborated on how Norris managing his medium tyres exceptionally well in the first stint made them confident about pulling off the one-stopper with him.
“Our baseline strategy today was a two stop strategy. We didn’t necessarily think that the one-stop was possible.
“So with Oscar we tried to go on a good deterministic two-stop strategy, trying to pass Leclerc in the first stop. Then we tried to extend in the second stop to have a tyre delta in order to have those few tenths of a second to be able to pass Leclerc and this did work.
“When it comes to Lando and the one-stop strategy, when we extended leaving Lando out, we didn’t think that the one-stop would’ve been possible still. But credit to Lando, he managed to put together some very strong sectors and lap times with tyres that were relatively used. So we somehow convinced ourselves that the one-stop was starting to get in the game as we progressed with the first stint.
“It wasn’t like entering the race with a one- or a two-stop and we would’ve picked being that equivalent. We thought that the two-stop would be the dominant strategy.”
2v1 strategy working out well despite failed undercut attempt with first pit stop
Oscar Piastri was the first driver amongst the frontrunners to make a pit stop on Lap 18. Unfortunately, Leclerc was around two and a half seconds ahead, and the attempt to undercut him for the net lead didn’t work out.
With regard to why Piastri’s first pit stop didn’t emerge as the decisive moment in Sunday’s Hungarian GP, Andrea Stella disclosed that the Australian’s tyres taking a hit in the first stint determined the timing of his first stop and how the two-stop strategy unfolded for him.
Stating that they were unsure of how potent the undercut would be at Hungaroring, the Italian added that extending Piastri’s stint on the worn-out mediums wouldn’t have paid any dividends. Moreover, he revealed that the Woking-based team could utilise both drivers strategically against Leclerc in the second half of the race once Norris was no longer vulnerable to any potential undercuts.
“In terms of the two-stop for Oscar and the stopping time is that also his tyres were starting to suffer a little bit in the first stint.
“It wasn’t clear what the power of the undercut would’ve been but it was worth a try and even extending when you have tyres that don’t behave very well, not necessarily will make the extension something that will reward you.
“So we wanted to give a first go and try to pass Leclerc but we knew that there would’ve been a second go later on in the race and at the time definitely the one-stop for Lando was outside of any cut because like I said before he is an option from a strategic point of view that we discovered while we were staying out with Lando and we saw that he was in condition to put together some very good lap times.”
