Stella explains why McLaren chose different strategies for its drivers
On the back of McLaren's fourth consecutive one-two finish, team boss Andrea Stella explained why the Woking-based outfit elected to run two different strategies with its drivers, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
McLaren looked utterly dominant across the practice sessions, but a sudden change to the weather conditions meant that they were unexpectedly challenged by several rivals.
In the end, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc got the better of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, but a second and third spot on the grid were still strong starting places for the Woking-based outfit.
At the start, Piastri held on to second place, but Norris fell behind the Mercedes of George Russell and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso.
With a one-stop strategy for Norris and fading pace for Leclerc, the McLaren pair worked its way up into the lead.
The closing stages saw Piastri close in on his team-mate on his fresher tyres, and the Australian mounted several attacks, Norris held on to secure a one-two for the British outfit.
Reflecting on McLaren's fourth consecutive one-two finish, team boss Andrea Stella said: “A superb 1-2 finish in Hungary delivered the 200th win for the McLaren Formula 1 Team this weekend, which myself as Team Principal, Zak as CEO and the entire team are proud and privileged to have delivered following in the footsteps of our founder Bruce McLaren.
“While the two-stop strategy was slightly faster in today’s race, Lando was able to deviate to a one-stop due to his track position. This allowed him to do something different to the other drivers and manage the Medium tyre in the first stint and then the Hard tyre very well until the end of the race.
“Oscar can be proud of his race weekend, he was very fast and it was close at the end in the challenge for first. Both Lando and Oscar pushed hard to make the most of their opportunities and it could have finished one way or the other.
“Overall, today’s race was firm but very fair with both drivers demonstrating the values of what it means to be a McLaren team member," the Italian continued.
"We head into the summer break celebrating four consecutive 1-2 finishes which is a great achievement. Thank you to the entire team both at track and back in Woking, you all played your part in victory 200!”
