Team principal Andrea Stella has spoken after the team orders snafu between Lando Norris and McLaren in the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Headline is a bit much but we live in a click bait world so I guess by that metric it could be worse. Anyways.
I think this was a particularly bitter pill for Lando because it’s the second time he’s been asked to not challenge for a win at McLaren. The last guy he followed team orders for fell out of F1 only to come back as a PR stunt, while Lando continued to grind through mediocrity with McLaren. Now Lando and McLaren are consistently challenging for wins and, in my opinion, some of that frustration came out last Sunday. The pit wall has not evolved with the rest of the team, and their mistakes are causing both drivers undue stress and frustration.
Gaffs aside, Lando could potentially be a 3 time race winner at McLaren but instead has a P1 and two team ordered P2 finishes behind a teammate. He seems like a very level headed person but I think it’s fair to assume that would frustrate someone.
His last stint was a statement that he wants to challenge for victory no matter who leads, and I think that’s fair. It sucked for everyone it had to play out so sloppily and publicly, but it was coming sooner or later. McLaren has to find a better balance of competitiveness and decision making. They have the car and the drivers, now it’s the choices from the pit wall holding them back.
Edit: spelling
I’m not sure about the Monza win, but I don’t think there’s any way he beats Piastri without the team ordered two undercuts. He never had the speed differential to overtake.
I’m not suggesting he was the fastest car all race or something ridiculous. People win races all the time because of fouled up pit stops, safety car timing, etc etc. Drivers find themselves in convenient or cursed positions basically every weekend. All of them want to win.
All I’m saying is the frustration is both understandable and ridiculous. The drivers shouldn’t be in these stupid positions, and McLaren has to improve drastically in regards to their decision making and execution.
This I think is the key here really. Without pitting Lando first, Oscar likely (not guaranteed obviously but likely) wins. So the only reason Lando was in a position to win was because the team decided to do something they believe was needed to secure P1 and P2.
That being said, ever since getting his first win, Lando’s been chomping at the bit for a second one. Every race since that he hasn’t won he’s been incredibly down on himself. I hope the team are getting him someone to work with to work through that, and that they’re realising what his state of mind is like when these types of things happen during a race.
He had no pace to beat nor Ricciardo nor Piastri. In Hungary, he was only ahead thanks to the mistake the team made. If we count how many victories Lando could have, why not count his own mistakes? Like Sochi 2021, or Silverstone this year. His only win came thanks to luck in Miami, where the SC picked up the wrong car. He should work on his decision making instead of asking the pit-wall for gifts.
I don’t like team orders but banning them just doesn’t work as there are so many grey areas to trigger them, so they are a part of the sport.
The biggest thing is that this would have been agreed before the race, if McLaren were serious bout giving Lando the win at the expense of his teammte as with Ferrari in Micheals day, it would be been agreed no later than the Sunday morning brief. The fact that it was not, means that Lando had already agreed to abide by any team orders benefiting Oscar. Landos engineer even said as such over the radio to him as this played out.
By not abiding by what was pre agreed means a complete lack of trust from the Team and Oscar, it also builds in an expectation for Oscar to behave the same when the situation is reversed, in both directions. McLarens biggest strength over Red Bull is that they have two great drivers, Red Bull only have one this season. They will gain more working as a unified team than what Max can achieve on his own.
People can suggest that Lando should be more selfish, but the ideal time to get that nailed down is during your contract negotiations as with Micheal and his Ferrari teammates, or Max and Checo. Failing that you can try during the race weekend before the actual race, but it is going to be much more difficult especially when you have two drivers who are told they are number ones.
I don’t disagree with sensible team orders, on the rare occasion such a thing exists. What I don’t like is the neutering of competition just because “team first.”
Most of the time the teams are quick to slit a driver’s throat if some hot new talent comes along so it’s hard to find fault with a driver that wants to capitalize on an opportunity to win, or even just to race and compete. As an example I think we’ve seen some excellent wheel to wheel battles between the Ferraris in recent years without the catastrophe the teams would have us believe is inevitable. We definitely wouldn’t see that with team orders.
What we saw last weekend was more a result of incompetent race management, and a driver that’s seen it too often driving that point home. I can’t say it was handled in the most professional way from either side, driver or team.
I agree it was terrible management from the team during the race, they were begging Lando to move over rather than say what we saw during the end of the Nico/Lewis era at Merc. That nastiness is a golden example of why if you agree before the race to do something you absolutely have to stick to it, and why letting them race will eventually boil over into the unacceptable once the honeymoon of “this is fun” is over. Charles and Carlos were pretty sick of each other earlier this season when going wheel to wheel, another honeymoon over now that Carlos is under real pressure to find a new seat.
And they did agree to it before the race, thats the key thing here. Not sticking to what you agreed before the race is far far worse.
