McLaren team boss Andrea Stella has explained how Oscar Piastri‘s spectacular first-lap pass on teammate Lando Norris at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was part of a wider strategy to put pressure on Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver ended up winning the season-ending race ahead of Piastri, but Norris secured the third-placed finish he needed to clinch a maiden Formula One world title.
Verstappen needed Norris to finish outside the podium places to secure his fifth-straight world championship, while Piastri needed to win the race and hope his McLaren teammate finished lower than sixth. But Norris never really looked in danger of dropping below third, despite avoiding a penalty for exceeding track limits when he overtook Yuki Tsunoda after being squeezed off the track.
Oscar Piastri’s stunning lap-one pass of teammate and F1 world champion Lando Norris was part of McLaren’s’ strategy at the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP. Pic: Getty
The Briton – driving on medium tyres in line with the majority of the field – was overtaken by Piastri after a blistering start from the Aussie, who was driving on hard tyres. The two McLarens came wheel-to-wheel in a tense moment that would have left many fans nervous, but Stella said Piastri’s pass was something the team discussed before the race.
So too was the team’s split strategy to send Norris out on the mediums, and Piastri on the hards. The plan was to unleash Piastri on the first lap so the Aussie could push Verstappen as hard as possible to potentially wear away at the Red Bull driver’s medium tyres and give the McLaren pair the best chance to stop him.
Stella said the team was also mindful about Norris getting off to a clean, incident-free start, with Piastri needing to go for broke to try and win the title anyway. It may have come as a shock to many to see Piastri take on Norris so early in the race with everything at stake but the McLaren boss it was all part of the plan.
McLaren expected Oscar Piastri to pass Lando Norris
“We did discuss and we discussed even more than usual that we obviously wanted to have absolutely clean racing in the first lap,” Stella said. “We also discussed that with Oscar on the hard tyre, kind of letting – or not making life difficult for – Oscar to take the second place and then try and attack Verstappen.
“[That] was a strategic option that Lando supported. So it was good and fair overtaking by Oscar. But in itself this is a scenario that we discussed, so it wasn’t the hardest of battles because there was a general interest from this point of view.”
Oscar Piastri celebrates with Lando Norris after his McLaren teammate clinched a maiden Formula One world title at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Pic: Getty
McLaren – like most other teams – went into the race unsure about what effect tyre graining would have, whether it was a one or two pit-stop race and whether medium or hard tyres were the best option. McLaren didn’t make the call on their split-strategy until shortly before the race.
But Stella admitted they were surprised how long Verstappen fended off Piastri on his mediums. “If there’s somebody on a hard chasing somebody on a medium, the one on the medium needs to push and at some stage might have to pit,” he explained. “We were, if anything, a bit surprised that Max could go so long and so fast on the medium tyres.”
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Piastri said the gamble to start on hard tyres was a risk worth taking in his outside shot at claiming a maiden world title. “There wasn’t anything left out there. Obviously, we tried a bit of a gamble on the strategy to give ourselves some different options and hope that the stars aligned to give ourselves the best chance,” he said after the race.
“Ultimately, in the end, that didn’t happen. I think given as well I missed a practice session, it took a little bit to find my feet, so I think that was the maximum we could have achieved. We didn’t have an answer for Max’s pace. So pretty happy with the weekend. Not much more we could have done.”