Why McLaren tell their drivers to “challenge us” over team orders on radio

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris brought home a valuable two-three result for McLaren in the Qatar Grand Prix.

Norris spent the opening laps in sixth while Piastri got up to second. McLaren wanted Piastri to push early on, fearing he would be ‘undercut’ by rivals who pitted before him. He eventually finished 4.8 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen, with Norris a further 1.1s behind him after spending 24 of the race’s 57 laps tailing his team mate.

McLaren instructed their drivers not to fight for position once it became clear a double podium finish was theirs to lose. Norris was initially unhappy about this message due to feeling he had stronger pace in clear air, something he had pointed out earlier in the race:

But he spent little disputing the order as the tiring conditions of the race meant drivers kept radio chatter to a minimum.

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Norris has benefited from the team’s strategy calls at the expense of his team mate on other occasions earlier this year. After the last race, team principal Andrea Stella said the strategy decision ensured they delivered a podium having missed one at the same track two years earlier.

“The drivers have been very close all weekend, within the space of a couple of tenths all weekend,” he said. “And even today, they were again very close.”

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“It’s a mega result for McLaren. Lando progressed from P10 to the podium and we are in a place in which we don’t have to forget that in 2021 Lando was P4, and a few laps to go he had the tyre failure and he finished P9. So you just don’t want to take this risk.

“You don’t want to induce your drivers to push and then have a track limit penalty, or as soon as you tell them to push they use the kerbs because it makes the track so much faster. So we just implemented ‘stay away from kerbs and think about bringing it home’, and both drivers understood it very well.”

Although Norris challenged the decision, he accepted it. “Lando was very happy on the in-lap, he was very complimentary with the team. It’s a point of strength that our drivers help us manage this situation so proactively and constructively.”

Stella said the team encourage its drivers to question their calls when they impose an order on their drivers.

“In terms of the message you heard, this is part of our protocol, I would say, because when we give drivers an instruction, we tell them ‘challenge us’ because we want to make sure we understand your point of view,” explained Stella.

“Challenge us, tell us exactly what you think. We will reassess the situation and come back to you. But once we come back to you, just respect it. And this is exactly what happened today. So that’s why you hear back. We ask drivers to challenge us.”

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2023 Qatar Grand Prix

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• Magnussen admits he took “too long to learn” Losail circuit
• Analysis: Sargeant’s Qatar radio reveals his painful struggle to end point-less run
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