McLaren boss laments team's “greedy” mindset behind Lando Norris’ pit stop at Silverstone

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella recently talked about the pitstop strategies that cost Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the British GP. He talked about the mindset behind both pitstops in the race.

During the 2024 F1 British GP, McLaren was initially one of the favorites to win the race. Lando Norris was one of the four drivers who were battling it out for the victory at Silverstone. On several occasions, he was ahead of other top drivers like Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Max Verstappen.

When the rain started to come down for the first time during the race, Mercedes decided to double stack their pitstop and fit intermediate tires on both Hamilton and Russell's cars. McLaren, on the other hand, decided to only call Norris in and keep Piastri out.

Explaining the decision to not double stack their drivers, Stella told F1.com that the team was reluctant to lose time on the track. He then admitted that the British team should have been patient with their decision-making and added that, due to the steady rainfall, driving for one more lap would have been difficult for Piastri.

“I think we were a little greedy, that we didn’t want to accept that we would have lost time with the double stack. But effectively sometimes you just have to be patient and accept that you’re going to lose time but just do the right thing, rather than hoping that one lap more is not going to cost that much, especially when the rain was pretty steady, so it’s not like [he was] going to face easier conditions staying out one more lap,” Stella said.

In the latter stages of the race, the rain stopped and the sun shone on the Silverstone track. Mercedes and Red Bull were quick to call Hamilton and Verstappen for slick tires. McLaren, however, kept Lando Norris out on the track and brought him in for a soft tire set, which was not fast enough for the Brit till the end of the race.

After the race, Stella admitted that Norris should have been called into the pits along with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. He explained that the team wanted to be on the safe side and change tires only when they felt the track was dry enough.

“I think with Lando, the right thing to do was definitely to pit at the same time [as Hamilton and Verstappen], but we wanted to have a very safe transition onto the dry tyres, and we lost a bit of time as well at the pit stops. We thought that with one lap more we could still keep the lead,” he added.

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F1 pundit urges McLaren to improve their strategy calls after the team missed out on a potential race win in Silverstone

F1 pundit Will Buxton recently shared his opinion as to when McLaren lost the chance to win the 2024 F1 British GP. He wrote on his official X account that the Woking-based team lost the chance to win at Silverstone after the first pitstop itself. In the first pitstop, they did not decide to double stack Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and only brought the former for intermediate tires.

Buxton then stated how the team has thrown away chances to win a race in three of the last six Grand Prixs. He claimed that if the British team wanted to win a constructors' world championship, they would have to make better strategy calls.

"I’d argue they threw it away at the first stop. And that they’ve thrown away 3 of the last 6 races. With arguably the best overall car in the sport, if they want a shot at their first constructors’ title this millennium, McLaren has to take proactive control of their strategy," Buxton wrote.

After the British GP, McLaren are third in the championship with 295 points. Meanwhile, Red Bull leads the table with 373 points.