McLaren set for major internal review after suffering 'signifcant Qatar penalty'

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has vowed to conduct an internal review of what proved to be an "ultimately incorrect" call that led to drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris being "significantly penalised" in the Qatar GP.

That decision saw Piastri and Norris stay out on track at the Lusail International Circuit at the end of lap seven when a safety car was summoned after Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg crashed out following a collision with Alpine driver Pierre Gasly.

The remainder of the field, bar Haas' Esteban Ocon, who pitted a lap later, all took on fresh tyres, locking themselves into a plan that would force them all to pit again at the end of lap 32, given Pirelli's prescribed 25-lap maximum stint for a set of tyres on the grounds of safety.

Whilst it initially appeared as if McLaren had the upper hand, and that was the belief from the pit wall in a message to Norris when he questioned why he had not followed Verstappen into the pits, as they were running second and third at the time, it proved to be a catastrophic mistake.

Verstappen went on to take his seventh victory of the season, matching the feat of Piastri and Norris, who were second and fourth at the chequered flag.

It means Norris carries a 12-point lead into the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi next weekend, with Piastri 16 points adrift, setting up a three-way title decider.

Asked to explain his team's thinking in effectively giving up 25 seconds - the time lost in a pit stop - to Verstappen, speaking to the media, including RacingNews365, Stella said: "In terms of the outcome of the decision, that's a fair interpretation.

"Effectively, we conceded one pit stop to a rival who was fast. Obviously, we did it for a reason, and that was that we didn't want to end up in traffic after the pit stop.

"But all the other cars and teams had a different opinion in relation to a safety car at lap seven. Everyone pitted, and this made our staying out, ultimately incorrect from a race outcome point of view.

"Like I say, because Verstappen was fast, and also because the tyre degradation was low, ultimately, this decision was significantly penalising, because, clearly, Oscar was in control of the race and deserved to win it, and we lost the podium as well with Lando."

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Stella concern over 'bias'

As to where he felt the misjudgement arose, in response, Stella has stated there will be questions asked internally.

"In terms of the misjudgment, it is something that we will have to review, discuss internally," he said. "We will have to assess some factors.

"For instance, whether there was a certain bias in the way we were thinking that led us, as a group, to think that not all cars, necessarily, would pit.

"There are sometimes some objectives, and sometimes there are some biased objective reasons. Sometimes there may be some bias in the way you think.

"So we will have to go through the review in a very thorough way, but what's important is that we do it, as usual, in a constructive, analytical way."