Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri of McLaren have endorsed continuing with split race strategies as part of their joint effort to secure the 2025 Formula 1 title. Despite some questioning following the Hungarian Grand Prix, both drivers stress the importance of choosing strategies independently rather than adopting identical plans.
During the Hungarian Grand Prix, Norris was running third when he opted for a one-stop strategy. This move placed him ahead of Piastri, who was on a two-stop approach, creating a chance for Norris to challenge for the race win. Although this divergence in tactics raised debate, both Norris and Piastri believe flexibility in strategy selection within the team remains vital.
Past Team Strategies and McLaren’s Current Approach
In contrast to McLaren‘s current openness, Mercedes‘ drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg followed almost identical race tactics during their title battles, aiming to maintain team cohesion. Neither Norris nor Piastri favor such rigidity, emphasizing their desire to retain some autonomy in race decisions.
Oscar Piastri explained the reality of racing scenarios tied to track position and strategy choices:
“We’ve spoken about it since then,”
he said.
I think ultimately there are race situations where being the last car in the train, you’ve got a lot less to lose.
That kind of aspect is always going to be there and I think it would be unfair to neutralise that just because of wanting to be on the same strategy.
I think there was discussions about whether there was anything we could have done differently for myself, which were very productive discussions. So I think we’re still going to be free to pick alternative strategies if that’s what we want.
But yes, there was definitely some discussions about how we can tackle that because it’s obviously a difficult thing to try and cover different strategies, especially when you’re in the position we are in the championship.
—Oscar Piastri, McLaren Driver
Norris Emphasizes Competitiveness Over Uniformity
Lando Norris agreed that their current approach remains unchanged and described the Hungarian race as an exception. He highlighted the logic behind choosing a different strategy rather than following others blindly.
I think at the minute things have not really changed. I think Budapest was a bit of an outlier,
Norris said.
My decision to go on to the one-stop was that you’d have to be pretty daft if I was to box after everyone else ahead of me had boxed, just to follow suit and do nothing different.
You don’t need to even be smart to do something different. It was more to get ahead of George to give myself an opportunity to be ahead of him at that point. Not necessarily to try and win the race at that point.
It was pretty amazing that it turned out that way and was a perfect result. I didn’t make that decision at the time thinking, ‘okay, this is my race and I can try and win it now’.
Maybe it was not a perfectly harmonious race between us as a team because it didn’t fall exactly into the place of what we would normally go by.
But at the same time, I think it was just an example of that’s what can happen in racing sometimes. I think we both want as drivers things not to be overly strict and we don’t want to just not be able to race because we’re also here as individuals to race and improve who can do a better job.
—Lando Norris, McLaren Driver
Team Dynamics and Future Strategy Adjustments
Both drivers mentioned that after each race, the team holds discussions and assesses their strategic decisions to refine approaches moving forward. These internal reviews aim to find the best balance between individual competitiveness and collective success.
There’s no major changes, but we still have a constructors to win and that’s priority at this point.
—Lando Norris, McLaren Driver
McLaren remains focused on optimizing its championship prospects while ensuring that Norris and Piastri have the freedom to race and select strategies that maximize their chances on any given weekend. The flexibility to choose uiteenlopend approaches could be crucial as the team targets both driver and constructors’ titles in the upcoming 2025 season.
