McLaren have “no regrets” over pitting Norris before red flag · F1 · RaceFans

McLaren stand by their decision to pit Lando Norris during yesterday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, despite the subsequent red flag which took them out of contention for victory.

Norris was running in second place as rain intensified during the race. He changed tyres during a Virtual Safety Car period, which ended as he pitted. That cost him positions to his championship rival Max Verstappen and both Alpine drivers.

Norris was able to use his fresher intermediate tyres to quickly close on the leaders as the conditions deteriorated, until the race was neutralised by a Safety Car. Then Franco Colapinto crashed, triggering a red flag, which allowed the drivers ahead of Norris to fit fresh tyres without the cost of pitting, to his intense frustration.

Despite being disadvantaged by the timing of the red flag, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella insisted they had no regrets over their decision to bring Norris into the pits.

“There’s a few things we need to look into from our side,” he told Viaplay. “We have to say that some of the positions we lost with the red flag, we felt it was the right thing to pit when so much water was coming. And we don’t regret that.

“It was a cautious pit stop. It ultimately paid for the cars behind us that took a bit of risk of staying out, and then the red flag kind of reset the race. So some learning to take on board, but also some positives.”

Norris restarted the race in fourth place behind three drivers who did not change tyres before the red flag. From there he fell behind George Russell and Charles Leclerc, finishing sixth ahead of team mate Oscar Piastri.

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Although the result was likely a fatal blow for Norris’ championship hopes, McLaren extended their lead over Ferrari at the top of the constructors’ standings. Stella said that mitigated the team’s disappointment.

“Obviously, when you start in pole position, you always hope that you can finish P1,” he said. “The race has been very eventful and some of the events didn’t play to our favour and this means that actually we finished far from the podium. But still with good points.

“It was important to stay in the race. If we look at the constructors’ championship, it’s important that we out-score Ferrari and this sets the situation strongly for the final part of the season.”

Stella praised Verstappen for his drive to victory from 17th on the grid. “I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate Max for a really very strong, impressive race starting from the back of the grid, and Alpine, they have done a good job,” he said. “They deserve to score the podium today. Well done to them.”