Stella: McLaren may have steered Norris away from an intermediate stop at Sepang

At the rain-delayed Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, McLaren lost race time with both cars after misjudging when slicks would become faster than intermediates, team principal Andrea Stella said after the race. He also said the team may have nudged Lando Norris away from pitting for intermediates, although the Briton was probably leaning towards that choice.

The reasoning before the start was specific to Sepang: the circuit tends to dry quickly, and its rough asphalt can help warm dry tyres even on a damp surface. Stella said McLaren had also seen the intermediates degrading rapidly on the laps to the grid, so it expected slicks to work quickly. They took longer than expected, while the track still suited intermediates.

McLaren planned to start both cars on medium slicks. Piastri switched to intermediates during the start sequence, giving up his grid position, while Norris stayed out. Both McLarens later pitted for hard tyres behind the Safety Car at the end of lap nine. Stella rejected the idea that the team had simply split the cars to see which tyre was right; he said uncertainty about how quickly slicks would work drove the decisions. He thought Piastri expected them to take time.

Norris said after the race that the medium-tyre start was a collective decision, that he was convinced slicks would work, and that Piastri probably made the right call to pit.

Piastri finished sixth with 8 points; Norris was ninth with 2. Piastri said McLaren had not made every call right, but lack of pace was the bigger problem. In his view, McLaren and Ferrari were in a similar pace bracket, but neither was in contention for race wins.