Even though both McLaren drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, were running directly behind Max Verstappen for most of the race, the team decided to follow a safe and steady plan. In the end, all three drivers finished in the same positions they started, with Verstappen winning ahead of Norris and Piastri.

During the race, McLaren had a few chances to try something different. One possible option was an undercut and therefore, to bring Norris into the pits earlier than Verstappen, hoping that stopping first would help him gain time and take the lead. Another option was an overcut, which meant to keep him on track longer and stop after Verstappen.

However, the team did neither. Norris pitted on lap 22, the same time as Verstappen, while Piastri had come in just one lap earlier. Team principal Andrea Stella explained that pitting Norris first could have caused problems for Piastri, who was also very close behind.

“Pitting Lando would have meant that we could not pit Oscar, and this would have been a problem,” he said. There was also the risk of other fast drivers, such as George Russell, undercutting McLaren if the timing wasn’t right.

Another reason for McLaren’s cautious approach was the risk of a Safety Car. If Norris had pitted early and a Safety Car came out soon after, he could have lost several positions.

“We don’t have to forget that by giving up track position, you also expose the car that you pit to a Safety Car risk,” explained Stella, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“Lando would have lost positions should a Safety Car be deployed.” While it may seem in hindsight like an early stop might have worked, the team felt the risk was too high during the race.

Some people also asked why McLaren did not leave Norris on track longer than Verstappen. But Norris himself said that would not have helped.

“If you stay out on a 20-lap used medium, you cannot be faster than somebody that fitted on a hard,” he said. “The situation became very clear when Russell pitted, and he was very fast on a new hard. It was apparent that the hard was working well.”

In the second part of the race, Piastri got close to Norris and even activated DRS, which gave the impression that he might be faster. But McLaren chose not to swap the drivers. According to Stella, it was not clear that Piastri had better pace. Norris was struggling in Verstappen’s dirty air, which made his car harder to control.

“Lando was doing a little bit of an elastic today, trying to cool his tyres down a bit and then going again,” he said. “So I don’t think it is a situation that we should judge at face value in terms of what the pace of the car was.”

A key reason why strategy options were limited was the track itself. Suzuka had recently been resurfaced, and the new tarmac meant the tyres lasted much longer than before. With such low tyre wear, there were fewer chances to use pit stops in a creative way.

“Normally this sort of lap time difference may be generated because there is degradation in the tyres,” Stella explained. “But with the new tarmac, Suzuka has changed. It is now a very low-degradation circuit. It was a very easy one-stop and not many strategic options.”

In the end, McLaren made the decision to protect their strong positions rather than gamble. As Norris summed it up after the race, “If I boxed two or three laps earlier, and a Safety Car comes out, then we look stupid.”