McLaren boss Andrea Stella has denied that Oscar Piastri’s pace advantage was big enough to warrant a swap with Lando Norris in Formula 1‘s Japanese Grand Prix.
Norris and Piastri crossed the line in that sequence behind Max Verstappen’s victorious Red Bull as the positions the top three qualified in were unchanged at Suzuka.
McLaren had missed a possible chance to pass Verstappen under the pit stop phase, but both cars started to pressure the Dutchman as the second stint progressed.
But while Norris was unable to reduce the gap to under a second, Piastri managed to get close enough to his team-mate ahead to activate the DRS with 11 laps to go.
That prompted the Australian to express to his race engineer that he harboured the speed to challenge Verstappen, a view that he reiterated when speaking post-race.
However, Stella has contended that the trouble Norris had in the turbulent air behind Verstappen’s Red Bull provided a misleading picture of the pace at the sharp end.
Asked whether McLaren considered a swap, Stella told media including Motorsport Week: “I don’t think it is so clear that Oscar was faster.
“I think Lando was trying to get in Max’s slipstream even closer, but any time you went below one second, then there was a significant loss of grip.
“So then Lando was doing a little bit of an elastic today, trying to cool down a bit his tyres, going again.
“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.
“Lando was trying to get close to Verstappen with maximum momentum, but it was difficult.”
How relaid Suzuka surface limited overtaking
Stella highlighted that the less abrasive asphalt on the relaid surface minimised the tyre wear that had tended to boost overtaking opportunities at Suzuka in the past.
“It was something we knew right from the start that on this track you need seven, eight tenths of performance advantage in order to be able to overtake,” he added.
“This sort of lap time difference may be generated because there is degradation in the tyres, but with the new tarmac, Suzuka has changed the feature of being a high degradation circuit.
“It is now a very low degradation circuit. It was a very easy one-stop and [there are] not many strategic options.”
Where Verstappen trumped McLaren
Stella concurred with Norris and Piastri that Verstappen securing track position with an exceptional pole position lap was more decisive to the outcome than the race.
“I’m sure our two drivers will have commented themselves that their qualifying laps were not the best laps in qualifying in their careers,” the Italian said.
“Clearly when Max elevates the game so much, you need to nail laps in qualifying and you need to bring home any possible millisecond.
“Yesterday it was indeed a matter of milliseconds with 43, 45 between P3 and P1.
“So yes, ultimately I think the qualifying laps yesterday in Q3 were even more a determining factor than anything that happened today in the race.”
READ MORE – McLaren couldn’t risk alternate Japan strategy with Lando Norris in Max Verstappen chase
