McLaren take full responsibility for huge Qatar mistake

McLaren has taken full responsibility for its huge mistake in the Qatar Grand Prix, which cost Oscar Piastri a likely victory. 

Piastri made a perfect start from pole and led the opening laps, until a safety car on the seventh lap caused chaos. 

With each tyre set being permitted to a maximum of 25 laps, every driver except the two McLarens pitted, with the safety car resulting in no time being lost. 

Everyone pitting caught McLaren by surprise, with team principal Andrea Stella having confirmed that not pitting was a genuine decision by the papaya squad. 

Ultimately, the mistake allowed Max Verstappen to claim victory ahead of Piastri in second, with Lando Norris finishing in fourth. 

As a result, Verstappen is just 12 points adrift of Norris ahead of the season finale, whilst Piastri is 16 points behind his team-mate. 

Stella revealed a review will take place, with Piastri being the biggest loser from McLaren's mistake due to the race win being lost.

"Well, it's a disappointing result overall," Stella told Sky F1. "We were in contention, we had the potential to win the race with Oscar. Certainly he deserved that. 

"He was fastest yesterday, qualifying, in the Sprint, and then, certainly the podium was available for Lando. But we lost the victory with Oscar, and we lost the podium with Lando. 

"So definitely not the outcome that we wanted, something to review in relation to the decision we made when there was a safety car on lap seven. 

"As usual, we will learn from racing, and we will get stronger for the next event, which obviously becomes now decisive and even more important."

McLaren confirm wrong decision made

Deciding not to pit under the safety car was a decision made by McLaren, rather than an error. Due to being at the front, it was unable to react quickly enough to the rest of the field. 

The mistake also hurt Norris, who was looking strong for a podium finish. Stella admitted it was the wrong decision by the team.

Asked if it was a decision not to pit or an error, Stella replied: It was a decision. It was a decision not to pit. In fairness, we didn't expect everyone else to pit.

"Obviously, when everyone else behind you pits, then it makes it a big thing, definitely [pitting was] the right thing to do.

"Obviously, when you are the lead car, you don't know exactly what the others are going to do. There could have been a loss for Lando in pitting, if we pitted both cars with the double stack.

"But effectively the main reason was related to not expecting everyone else to pit. So it was a decision, but as a matter of fact, it wasn't the correct decision."