The team boss realizes that Piastri could have won and Norris got a podium finish before making the wrong decision in the safety car.
McLaren boss Andrea Stella admitted after the race that the team had squandered a chance to win with Oscar Piastri and even hurt Lando Norris’ result. According to him, the Australian “deserved the win”, while the Briton had a “guaranteed podium finish” before the wrong decision under the safety car.
“It’s a disappointing result overall,” Stella said. “We had the potential to win the race with Oscar, and he deserved it. The podium was up for grabs for Lando. We lost the win to Oscar and the podium to Lando.”
Choosing not to pit during the safety car was the deciding point. Stella explained that the team did not expect all competitors to choose to change tires – and that making a double pit stop would have put Norris at a direct disadvantage.
He concluded his speech by saying: “We need to reconsider the decision we made. We did not expect everyone to stop. When you are in front, you do not know what others will do. It could have been Lando’s loss if the duo had stopped in the pits, but the decision was made because we did not imagine that the entire grid would stop.”
Thus, the McLaren team leaves Qatar feeling that it missed two important results at a crucial moment in the season.