Lando Norris believes the mandated stint lengths imposed in the Qatar Grand Prix mitigated Red Bull’s tyre degradation advantage, enabling McLaren to edge slightly closer.
After Pirelli discovered micro cuts on its tyres following Friday’s action, the FIA shortened the track limits by 80cm at the high-speed Turns 12 and 13 to discourage drivers from running wide onto the kerbs.
Ahead of Sunday’s race, Formula 1’s governing body also announced that it would be introducing a maximum stint length of 18 laps for every competitor, effectively guaranteeing a three-stop encounter.
Despite both drivers starting out of position due to deleted lap times in qualifying, Norris and Oscar Piastri recovered to the podium, the latter classifying only 4.8s behind polesitter and race winner Max Verstappen.
Verstappen pitted later than the papaya-liveried duo through every stint amid Red Bull’s concerns over the Dutchman being caught out by a potential Safety Car.
Norris is convinced that the FIA’s introduction of controlled pitstops in Qatar denied Red Bull from utilising the typical gains it makes towards the end of stints.
Asked whether the temporary rule aided McLaren’s pursuit against Red Bull, Norris said: “Hmm, you should ask Max! Tough to say. I think the Red Bull is normally that step better in the race with degradation.
“I don’t even feel like our degradation was bad today. I feel like we could push, even towards the end of stints I didn’t feel like we were suddenly struggling a lot.
“Maybe if it was a two-stopper and we had to eke out the tyres that bit more, that’s where we would have seen the Red Bull just be more consistent.
“And like in Japan, that’s where he was always a bit better was just that second part of the stint, just keeping the consistency and we would drop off a bit. So maybe we didn’t see that today.”
However, Norris admits he was encouraged by McLaren’s pace against Red Bull when degradation was less of a limiting factor.
But with McLaren one of seven sides not opting to bring upgrades, Norris accepts that the Woking squad still has the same level of ground to make up next year, despite appearing to have slightly slashed the deficit.
“Nevertheless, for the race today, it was very good,” he continued. “So, it shows that when we can keep the tyres in a good condition we’re closer and we’re getting closer to what we need.
“But we still know at certain tracks… Like, the last few weekends, we’ve not changed anything on the car. This weekend’s been a lot better, but it’s the same car as the last few weeks. So we still know we have a lot to do in the background.”
Meanwhile, Piastri consistently pipped Norris throughout the weekend, resulting in the Australian securing his maiden F1 triumph when he beat Verstappen to Sprint victory.
Piastri, who scored his second career F1 podium on Sunday, echoed his team-mate’s comments on the matter after experiencing his first “flat out” race in the top flight.
“Yeah, I think it probably helped us rather than hindered,” Piastri agreed. “I think it ended up in a race where we could push flat out the whole time or very close to, which I don’t think I’ve been able to say in an F1 race before. So, I think it probably helped us a bit.
“Like Lando said, I think the Red Bull normally is a step ahead in terms of tyre degradation maybe we didn’t see that as much today with the rules.
“But I think also our car pace this weekend has been very strong. So I think that’s also been another factor.”
