McLaren admits it 'biased' Lando Norris in 'wrong direction' during F1 chaos

Andrea Stella has admitted McLaren may have steered Lando Norris towards the wrong tyre call during the chaotic start to the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, as the team misjudged when dry tyres would begin to work on a drying but still treacherous track.

Thunderstorms — and a software bug — delayed the start of the race at the Sepang International Circuit, with the field split between dry tyres and intermediates once the action eventually got underway.

Both McLarens were due to start on medium-compound Pirellis, but Oscar Piastri pitted for intermediates after the formation lap while Norris stayed out on dry rubber.

The decision cost Norris significant time, with the Briton eventually pitting, along with Piastri, for hard tyres behind the safety car at the end of lap nine, triggered by Valtteri Bottas spinning into the gravel at Turn 13.

Piastri went on to finish sixth, while Norris recovered to ninth, picking up just two points — after nearly slamming into the back of his team-mate behind the late safety car.

Speaking to media, including RacingNews365, Stella explained that the call was complicated by how quickly the intermediate tyres were degrading on the Sepang asphalt during the laps to the grid, which suggested the dry tyre could work far sooner than it actually did.

"Well, on the pit wall, in terms of making calls on strategy and tyres, the most difficult moment was certainly at the start, when it wasn't clear whether the track was requiring intermediate tyres or if it would have worked for the dry tyres," Stella said.

"On this kind of tarmac, already what we saw on the laps to the grid is that the intermediate tyres were getting damaged very, very rapidly, and also on this kind of tarmac, the dry tyres work very, very easily, much more easily than pretty much every other circuit.

"So it looked, from what we could observe, that the track was dry enough to stay on track with the dry tyres, and we hoped that the dry tyres would have switched on pretty rapidly.

"But as a matter of fact, it took more laps than we thought. So with Lando, we lost race time, and with Oscar as well, we lost race time, because we needed to pit and accept that the track was only right for intermediate tyres. This was the most complicated moment..."

Not a deliberate split strategy

Asked whether McLaren had simply split its two cars' strategies to hedge its bets, Stella rejected that suggestion.

"It wasn't as simple as splitting [Norris and Piastri]. It was more the uncertainty as to how much it would take for the dry tyres to start to work," the McLaren team principal said.

"And, as a matter of fact, it took longer than what we thought it would take. So ultimately, it was an incorrect judgement as to the crossover at which the dry tyres would be faster than the intermediate tyres.

"But there was no logic as simple as saying, 'let's split and let's see which one is right'. We thought that the dry tyres would switch on faster."

Stella went further, suggesting Piastri had reached his own conclusion on the formation lap, while Norris had been influenced by the team's thinking.

"I think for Oscar, it was sort of Oscar himself thinking, 'it's not going to be rapid'," he added.

"And I think with Lando, it's possible that we biased Lando in the wrong direction. He was probably more in the direction that he should have pitted for inters.

"But as we discussed it, we kind of attempted to see whether we could stay out on the medium tyres."