Lando Norris believes McLaren could have tried something different with its strategy in the Japanese Grand Prix, but his teammate Oscar Piastri did not complain at the lack of a switch of drivers late in the race.
Max Verstappen led from pole position and had Norris for close company approaching the first round of pit stops, with Piastri stopping first of the leading trio to try and cover off any threat of being jumped by cars behind. When Verstappen then came into the pits a lap later, Norris followed him in, and says that made for a tough race as there was no tire offset to allow him to try and fight the Red Bull more effectively.
“I could see Max quite clearly for the whole race, but just couldn’t make any inroads from that point onwards,” Norris said. “So I think him in clean air was enough to stay in that position and he didn’t make any mistakes. He drove a good race. The race was won yesterday in hindsight, and I guess we always kind of know the better position you start, the more chance you have of winning.
“I think our pace was probably slightly better, but not enough to get through the dirty air — kind of get into the DRS, and then passing is a whole other story because it’s pretty much impossible to pass here. I think it was a good race.
“We tried some things. Maybe we could have tried a bit more with strategy. Overcut or undercut — we just boxed on the same lap for some reason. So some things we’ll discuss, but good points for us as a team. Decent points for me. Of course, would have liked a little bit more, but have to take second sometimes.”