“Are we swapping?”: How McLaren placated Piastri and persuaded Norris on the radio

21 comments on ““Are we swapping?”: How McLaren placated Piastri and persuaded Norris on the radio”

1. 

   An Sionnach
   23rd July 2024, 8:38

   Fair enough. A seven is enough for Lewis, though. Thought himself and Leclerc had similar races, so would be tempted to award Leclerc an extra point, too. The race counts for a lot more in my book, especially when you maximise your points.

   I don’t think Piastri deserved to win. If Lando let him past straight away and allowed him to build a two second gap to nullify the team’s error, he probably could have caught and passed him. Perhaps this result might secure Piastri’s loyalty and support for Lando, though? If McLaren is consistently this far ahead, Lando can win the championship, especially if Lando will support him rather than duke it out with him every week.
   1. 

      An Sionnach
      23rd July 2024, 18:56

      Posted on the wrong page.

      Should read if Piastri will support Lando. Lando’s support for Lando might be harder to secure!
2. 

   Jungle
   23rd July 2024, 12:04

   Netflix will need to hire more staff to condense the 24 season into 10 episodes. There’s enough material already and we haven’t even reached the summer break!
3. 

   Osnola
   23rd July 2024, 12:37

   This must be the most embarrasing 1,2 for a team ever. The driver management is is below par. How is it possible a team like mclaren is able to hire such messy srategists.
   1. 

      Sham (@sham)
      23rd July 2024, 13:23

      The strategy was fine, if a little conservative – I don’t think there was as much threat as they thought there was, but I don’t blame them for covering. Verstappen in particular was very quick until he got stupid at turn 1.

      The only reason it looked messy is because Norris didn’t follow instructions without acting like a 5 year old first.
      1. 

         Craig
         23rd July 2024, 14:43

         Exactly.

         Next time they’ll just have to pit Norris after Piastri (if he’s behind him again) and risk losing a few places.

         I understand Norris is closer to Max in the championship, but if McLaren are going to give him priority it needs to be decided before the next races and made clear to both drivers.

         Some people are blaming McLaren for asking Norris to let Piastri back through and for threatening him by suggesting he’ll lose support of the team (and his teammate) if he doesn’t, but I don’t think the team did anything wrong. If anything they should have been more firm more quickly rather than getting out the begging bowl.

         Norris turned it into a massive thing by dragging it out for so long and tarnished Piastri’s first win. The only defence he has in my opinion is that the team have screwed Piastri for Landos benefit many times before so maybe he thought “why should it be any different this time?”.
      2. 

         Frasier (@frasier)
         23rd July 2024, 15:52

         It’s not the first time the 5 year old has emerged, Russia a few years back when it rained comes to mind.

         Lando’s passage through the junior formula was likely helped by having a rich dad, that’s his good luck but has it has left him with a bit of an ‘entitled’ attitude? Piastri on the other hand seems to have given up a lot from an early age to be where he is now and has behaved like an adult at all times so far.
4. 

   gDog (@gdog)
   23rd July 2024, 13:46

   I know you’ll be overexcited.
5. 

   PB
   23rd July 2024, 15:46

   If he had let Piastri past earlier, and Piastri then had his off, Lando would have won.
   If he had let Piastri past earlier and then raced to the finish, he might have won.
   Holding out to make a melodramatic point about team orders instead of swapping earlier decreased Lando’s chances.
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      23rd July 2024, 18:34

      Absolutely, I thought it immediately that he should’ve let him by as soon as possible.
6. 

   David BR (@david-br)
   23rd July 2024, 15:49

   An almost perfect example of the tension between teams and drivers. This was the first 1-2 grid position for McLaren in years and, with the fastest car of the weekend, the pressure was on the team to deliver a 1-2 podium. That’s entirely understandable. But. The ultimate aim of every team is to win the drivers’ championship. And Norris clearly had that in mind.
   Reading the radio transcripts, it does become clear that McLaren very explicitly ‘prepped’ Lando that they weren’t undercutting Oscar and that were he to emerge ahead on track after their pit stops, he was expected to return the position. So: for me the fatal flaw is right there, with Lando Norris exclusively. He should have immediately asked, stated, that he wanted and would compete for the race win because he needs the points in the WDC battle with Verstappen. Then McLaren would have a choice: say no racing (which their strategy seemed to be implying at that point), say Norris should return the position but he could then race, or simply decide to keep them in Norris P1, Piastri P2 to avoid the risk of any collision were they to race. Norris could then decide whether to accept the team’s decision (order) or not.
   Given their apparent pace in the final stint, Norris could have won but lost out through bad decision making. Though McLaren should, I think, be prioritizing Norris already, I’d give them a ‘pass’ for the Hungary weekend because their aim was clearly the 1-2 above all. But they really need to rethink how to proceed from Spa onwards.
   1. 

      Esploratore (@esploratore1)
      23rd July 2024, 18:39

      Yes, considering red bull’s getting weaker (here 3rd seemed the best verstappen could realistically have done), they have a chance on the driver’s title and they might have to prioritize norris going forward, he has more points and is generally faster, it’s now been 16 years they didn’t win a driver’s title and 26 years they didn’t win a constructor’s title, a huge gap!
      1. 

         David BR (@david-br)
         23rd July 2024, 19:36

         @esploratore1 My feeling is that McLaren and Norris still have a ‘developing the car’ mindset, which is all about team harmony, everyone working to improve the car performance to ‘get back to the front.’ But they’re there already! And nothing says they’ll be at the front next year or afterwards: carpe diem! etc. They need to switch mindset immediately and see themselves as competing for both titles. The WCC is very achievable if Perez continues to underperform, the WDC is equally achievable if present form continues. That’s a bigger unknown but McLaren – and Norris – have to seize their chance now. Otherwise why bother?
         Everyone’s too polite and passive aggressive at the team. Norris especially needs to ask himself what he wants. My feeling from the race was that McLaren almost neutered their lead driver – lead driver in terms of points, though it feels like they’re unsure who their best bet is for the title TBH. Meanwhile Verstappen was angry and reckless on the war path because Red Bull are falling behind. Exactly as a race and championship winner should be. If Norris doesn’t step up now, Piastri should.
   2. 

      Kev
      23rd July 2024, 19:46

      I’m not so sure the driver’s championship is more important to teams. It’s marginal at most.
      1. 

         David BR (@david-br)
         23rd July 2024, 19:58

         And some people say the constructors title doesn’t matter to teams. Others say only winning the individual races matter (to the drivers). The easiest way to test any of those theories is seeing how people respond when they do win. Maybe I’m wrong but winning races is a buzz for driver and team, winning the WDC a huge buzz for both, winning the WCC a good feeling for the team and really just ‘nice for the team’ for the drivers, but they’re not really that bothered?
         1. 

            Kev
            23rd July 2024, 20:15

            I guess for some teams the prize money is a bigger consideration but you make good points. According to the F1 website the constructor’s remains the bigger prize for the people working in the teams. I think I’ll settle on ‘it depends” :-)
         2. 

            Mayrton
            25th July 2024, 12:46

            I think it depends on the team. If you produce road cars they tend to value the WCC most as it sells. RedBull for instance is more interested in the WDC as the person/champ sells their product.
   3. 

      Mooa42
      23rd July 2024, 23:02

      Lando is ahead in the points, but we have to remember that Lando has been first to receive all updates and has generally been given the better strategy. Also there has been no push back from Oscar when the team have asked him to cede a position.
      The team want to win the constructors for the $$. After their poor strategic mistakes at Silverstone, it makes sense that they were over cautious in Hungary, they should have had a 1, 2 at both races.
   4. 

      Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      24th July 2024, 14:53

      @david-br – I agree with you but Norris doesn’t have to do that. He did state that he’s fighting for the championship and they told him that the only way to win it is to give up the position and that he needed Piastri and the team. He had proven that he was quicker in quali and after pitting but it wasn’t enough for McLaren.

      Now if he loses the WDC by 7 points, it’s all Stella’s and Brown’s fault and they may have to find a way to give him a WDC if he never wins one. Even $100 more in income won’t matter to Norris since he’s wealthy and comes from money and they’ll have to pay at least that much as a WDC would have increased his earnings substantially.

      Plus, Verstappen is already in missile mode without any penalties so he will missile his way into Norris every chance he gets since there are no rules in F1 any more since 2021, well there are but they apply to the real drivers, not the sim drivers and their puppets.
      1. 

         Michael (@freelittlebirds)
         24th July 2024, 14:54

         I mean $100 million of course
7. 

   Michael (@freelittlebirds)
   24th July 2024, 14:45

   Wow, so Norris did ask to stay in front for the championship. And McLaren’s radio told him that he needed Piastri and the team and that they will protect him.

   So if Norris loses the championship by 7 or fewer points, that victory for Piastri will equate to a WDC for Norris.

   And we all know Verstappen will smash into Norris in every race to keep the WDC which means Piastri has to smash into him before that :-) I guess that’s going to be Piastri’s job – use the car to protect Norris as the engineer suggested taking out Verstappen before Verstappen can take out Norris since the stewardss will always allow Verstappen to crash into folks without a penalty.

   It’s a good thing there are no rules in F1 for that kind of thing as Verstappen has shown us. In the old days, it would have been Crashgate but now it won’t even be investigated which is nice. I guess Red Bull will then use Perez to shield Verstappen and take out Piastri so that Verstappen can go into missile mode on Norris.

   2021, the gift that keeps on giving! New rulebook from Max Verstappen to apply to all tight races and zero penalties.

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