Stella wanted a safe number: Formation laps destroy McLaren strategy

– Light rain had the course in Montreal firmly under control throughout the entire morning, but just in time for the start at 4 p.m. local time, the conditions improved. The vast majority of the field opted for slicks.

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Not so McLaren. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dared to play the intermediate gamble from the second row as the only ones in the leading group. A choice that quickly proved to be an expensive mistake. Both drivers almost immediately headed to the pits to switch to medium tires.

From that moment on, the race got completely out of control for McLaren. During his comeback, Piastri collided with Alex Albon, while Norris later had to retire his car early due to a mechanical defect. (For the race report)

The bad luck with the additional formation laps

But after the race, team principal Stella emphasized that the decision for the intermediate at the time it had to be made was by no means wrong. The stranded Racing Bulls car of Arvid Lindblad forced two additional formation laps and thus robbed McLaren of any potential starting advantage.

Exactly in the phase when the track conditions were worst, these crucial laps under race conditions were missing. “You have to consider that the tires are mounted five minutes before the start and we had a time window of about seven minutes to make an operational decision,” explained Stella.

“From our point of view, the track was extremely slippery. On dry asphalt, it was already hard enough to get temperature into the tires, but at that moment it was slippery and raining. In such a situation, you have to weigh which tire is right for that exact moment.”

And then the survival battle began”

“After that, the rain stopped incredibly quickly, and in my opinion, the double formation lap cost us the entire advantage of this decision,” the Italian continued.

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“I would have really liked to see how the cars would have coped on dry tires if the race had started on time. So we were just a bit unlucky that the rain stopped exactly then and we had to do these extra-long formation laps. In hindsight, we were punished for the decision, but when we had to make it, the conditions absolutely spoke for the intermediate.”

Stella, who had already warned of rain beforehand, also revealed that he personally intervened in the decision-making. He wanted to make sure that his drivers survived the first laps unharmed. Cool conditions also made it difficult for the slick starters to get the front tires up to temperature.

Stella wanted to survive the first laps unharmed

How much grip the intermediate initially offered was shown right at the start: Norris, who started from third place, catapulted himself to the front with an outstanding launch before his tire advantage turned into a solid disadvantage.

“As far as the actual decision-making is concerned, the command post and the drivers divided it up relatively well. When the call for a decision came, I even gave my input myself,” added Stella. “I just wanted to make sure that we were on a tire with which we could survive the first lap.”

Finally, the team principal appealed for understanding: “We always have to be a little careful when judging decisions only based on the end result. You have to evaluate such decisions at the moment they have to be made. If the rain had lasted just a few minutes longer and the race had started on time, we would have seen cars struggling massively on dry tires.”

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