Lando Norris questions McLaren pit stop call after 'fighting a losing battle'.
Lando Norris wants to discuss McLaren's Japanese Grand Prix strategy with the team.
07 Apr 2024
Lewis Larkam
Crash.Net

Lando Norris wants to discuss McLaren’s strategy after disagreeing with the team’s decision to pit him earlier than his rivals at the F1 Japanese Grand Prix. “It was a tough race,” Norris told Sky F1. “I think compared to those guys who had better pace, compared to the Ferraris, just not enough.”

“I think everything kind of fell back in-line in terms of Red Bull, Ferrari, us, which is a shame. It doesn’t feel great when you start third and just kind of go backwards and kind of feel like you’re just fighting a bit of a losing battle against these guys because they can just do a lot more. They can go longer and extend to have a much bigger tyre delta. It’s hard to fight on a track like this, but we gave it a good shot, we did what we could have done.”

“We’ve got the maximum points apart from these top two teams, which was all we could do. Charles did a good job to go that far on one set of tyres and then I’m kind of surprised we boxed as early as we did to be honest with you. Because that just put it in line with what Ferrari did, and we covered George [Russell] which I just didn’t think we maybe needed to do.”

'Fighting a losing battle';

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/104657...-losing-battle


Lando Norris wants McLaren F1 talks after nasty Japanese Grand Prix 'surprise'
Lando Norris started the Japanese Grand Prix third on the grid but finished the race fifth, unable to hold off the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in his McLaren
14:41 Tue, 09 Apr 2024.
By Daniel Moxon Senior F1 Writer
The Mirror

Lando Norris was left "fighting a losing battle" and "surprised" by McLaren's pit strategy during a difficult Japanese Grand Prix.

Speaking afterwards, Norris appeared deflated and said he wants to talk with his team about the way they had executed the race. "It was a tough race - I think compared to those guys who had better pace, compared to the Ferraris, just not enough," he said.

"Charles did a good job to go that far on one set of tyres and then I'm kind of surprised we boxed as early as we did to be honest with you, because that just put it in line with what Ferrari did, and we covered George [Russell] which I just didn't think we maybe needed to do.”

‘McLaren F1 talks’;

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/formu...tella-32546553


Stella stands by McLaren strategy calls for Norris in Japanese GP
10:06 Tue, 09 Apr 2024.
Phillip van Osten
F1i.com

McLaren team boss Andrea Stella defended his team’s strategy. The Italian acknowledged that Ferrari's stronger race pace ultimately hampered their plans but maintained that the two-stop strategy was the best option given the information they had at the time.

“I think we were a little out of options because when we stopped Lando at the start, we kind of knew that Ferrari were ready to go to undercut us,” Stella explained.

“So we wanted to play preventatively. We had two sets of hard, so we could stop early, and in stopping Lando early we wanted to see like, can we go for the podium? And we even tried to see can we go for it to beat Perez?”

‘Best option given the information they had at the time’;

https://f1i.com/news/504942-stella-s...panese-gp.html


It's the maximum of what we could achieve, admits Norris
09/04/2024
NEWS STORY
Pitpass

With Red Bull out of reach, Lando Norris admits that McLaren is still no match for Ferrari either. Able to hold off Sainz at both starts, Norris was struggling and pitted on Lap 11 in a bid to undercut the Spaniard, who pitted four laps later. Though the strategy paid off, Norris lost out to the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc who had bravely opted for a long opening stint on the mediums.

When Norris made his second stop (on Lap 26) it coincided with Leclerc's first, but while the Monegasque rejoined in sixth, the Briton dropped to eighth behind Russell. Though he was able to work his way back up to fourth, behind Leclerc, he was subsequently passed by the second Ferrari ten laps later.

"Tough race!" said the Briton. "We gave it a good try, but we just didn't have enough pace today, so trying to cover and stay ahead of the Ferraris was challenging. "It was as expected, to be honest with you," he subsequently added. "Which is behind Ferrari, where we've been all year.”

‘Maximum of what we could achieve’;

https://www.pitpass.com/77404/Its-th...-admits-Norris


McLaren strategy flaw identified giving Lando Norris “big disadvantage” in Japan
Did McLaren make two crucial mistakes with Lando Norris' strategy in Japan?
08 Apr 2024
Connor McDonagh
Crash.Net

Sky Sports F1 pundit Bernie Collins has identified a significant flaw with McLaren’s strategy at the Japanese Grand Prix. Analysing McLaren’s strategy at Suzuka, Collins felt while they were right to put Norris on a two-stopper, the timing of the stops was the issue.

“Lando was very honest in thinking they stopped too early,” she said. “He’s got to feel disappointed to lose to Charles who was significantly further back. [Andrea] Stella said two stops didn’t make a difference. I think that’s correct.”

“But what did make the difference was Lando stopped four laps earlier than Sainz on the first stop, then 10 laps earlier on the second stop. In a race where we’re talking about significant deg, to do 10 extra laps on the final set is a big disadvantage in terms of total race time. It would have lost significant race time.”

‘McLaren strategy flaw identified’;

https://www.crash.net/f1/news/104661...dvantage-japan


Lando Norris set for McLaren talks after being left 'surprised' at Japanese Grand Prix
Lando Norris was left frustrated after finishing fifth in the Japanese Grand Prix.
09:14, Wed, Apr 10, 2024
By Express Sport Reporter
Daily and Sunday Express

Lando Norris has discussed plans to hold talks with McLaren following an unexpected pit strategy during the challenging Japanese Grand Prix. The British driver, who had high hopes of securing consecutive podiums after qualifying third on the grid for Sunday's race, was unable to fend off the advancing Ferraris.

A visibly disappointed Norris spoke afterwards about wanting to discuss the race execution with his team. "It was a tough race - I think compared to those guys who had better pace, compared to the Ferraris, just not enough.”

Norris also expressed his surprise at the team's strategy, saying: "Charles did a good job to go that far on one set of tyres and then I'm kind of surprised we boxed as early as we did to be honest with you, because that just put it in line with what Ferrari did, and we covered George [Russell] which I just didn't think we maybe needed to do.”

‘Frustrated after finishing fifth’;

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/f1-a...ese-Grand-Prix