Lando Norris has expressed frustration with McLaren’s strategy during the Qatar Grand Prix, a decision that allowed Max Verstappen to close the gap in the championship standings. Norris, who leads the title race, finished fourth while Verstappen won, reducing Norris’s advantage to just 12 points. Teammate Oscar Piastri, who came second, also voiced his disappointment.
The critical moment came when McLaren chose not to pit their drivers under an early safety car, a move that handed Verstappen the lead. Norris believed both he and Piastri should have been called in, saying, “Both of us should have done. I would have been had over either way, because we would have double-stacked and potentially I would have lost time.” Piastri described his frustration as “pretty high,” adding, “Clearly we didn’t get it right today, which is a shame, because the whole weekend went very, very well.”
Despite the setback, Norris remains optimistic ahead of the season finale in Abu Dhabi. “I put myself in this position. I’m still happy,” he said. “It wasn’t our finest day, it wasn’t my finest weekend in terms of driving and putting things together. But that’s life. Everyone has bad weekends. I take it on the chin, we’ll take it on the chin, and we’ll see what we can do next weekend.” Piastri echoed the sentiment, acknowledging the error but looking forward.
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted the team must improve, noting that drivers have every reason to be disappointed. He confirmed that McLaren will not introduce team orders for the final race, stating, “We want to be fair to our drivers, we want to race with integrity, and we want to race in a way that doesn’t surprise our drivers.” Verstappen, who was 104 points behind in August, expressed pride in being back in contention, saying, “To still be in this fight, I think we can be really proud of it.”
