Oscar Piastri did everything he had to do at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend. He was on the ball through Friday’s free practice session and stuck his MCL39 on the Sprint pole, shading his teammate Lando Norris by a decent margin. He went on to dominate the Sprint on Saturday and later took pole position convincingly for Sunday’s main race. He even enjoyed a perfect start, leaving Verstappen to sort out Norris at the lights!
Norris lost out to Verstappen for the second successive weekend, although his reaction time was almost as good as the Dutchman's. As the race settled into its familiar rhythm before the first round of pit stops, a coming together of Nico Hulkenberg’s Sauber and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine meant it was time for the Safety Car to be deployed. This was Lap 7.
Pre-race, the sole tyre supplier for F1, Pirelli, had stipulated a maximum of 25 laps for each set of tyres on the grounds of safety. Dramatically, the whole grid dived into the pits on Lap 8 for a new set of rubber—everyone except championship leaders McLaren.
This decision, and the further affirmation on the radio, “gives us more flexibility” by the McLaren race engineering team to their drivers, left almost everyone in disbelief.
Were they sure? Did they want to pit their cars one more time against the in-form Red Bull? The energy-drinks team not only have their four-time champion in the cockpit of the RB21, but they also have Hannah Schmitz, who has been heading their race strategy since 2021!
She has arguably been the best strategist F1 has seen in the ground effects era. And here was McLaren, attempting to counter their rival’s strategy. The team sans the drivers dropped the ball at this point, and things went from bad to worse for the Constructors Champions.
Piastri was meant to win the race effortlessly, and Norris was supposed to cement his lead going into the final round. Instead, it's now Norris on 408, Verstappen on 396 and Piastri on 392 points respectively!
The McLaren strategy blooper has set up a thriller at Abu Dhabi this Sunday. The 2025 World Champion could be decided in the first corner at Yas Marina Circuit if all hell breaks loose at the start. Stay glued to your screens, you cannot afford to flinch when the five red lights go out!
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