Lando Norris has revealed that McLaren opted against a brave strategy to avoid the team looking "stupid", having gone for a safe option during the Japanese Grand Prix. Oscar Piastri completed his one pit stop a lap before race leaders Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, before the two rivals entered a lap later. As a result, the top three remained in the exact same order, with Verstappen having converted a shock pole position into victory at Suzuka. Just 2.1 seconds separated the three drivers at the chequered flag, leading to suggestions that McLaren should have attempted either an undercut or overcut with Norris. Norris was the closest driver to Verstappen throughout the race but was unable to get past the reigning world champion due to overtaking having been extremely difficult. The McLaren driver recognised that the Woking-based team could have attempted something different, but that the chance of being caught out by a safety car was too big a risk to take. "We obviously planned some things beforehand and we kind of knew what to expect," said Norris. "But yeah, hindsight is a wonderful thing. "I think I probably could have gone longer, we could have tried going earlier, yes, but then you're at risk of safety cars and other things. So it's easy to say, 'Yeah, you should have done that.' But if I box three laps earlier or two laps earlier and the safety car comes out, then we look stupid. "So can't win them all and we take it on the chin. I think we've got areas to work on. High-speed we were very, very strong and I think definitely the strongest car out there. " Slow speed, we’re quite a chunk off the Red Bull, and that's where we lost in qualifying. So we lost again consistently in the race. So yeah, a lot of areas we have to try work on."
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