McLaren team principal Andrea Stella says his team have no regrets about their timing to pit Lando Norris at the F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Afrosport reports.
The British driver started from pole position with the hope of capitalising on title rival Max Verstappen’s 17th place start in order to cut the latter’s lead in the drivers’ championship standings.
Things however did not go according to plan as Norris lost out to Mercedes George Russell at the start before both drivers pitted for fresh intermediate tyres just as a Virtual Safety Car ended.
A red flag a few laps later followed which hampered them further, enabling those who had not pitted – including Verstappen – to make a free tyre change.
The reigning world champion took full advantage of it to complete a brilliant comeback victory, while Norris slipped to sixth at the chequered flag – which effectively dampened his title hopes.
“There’s a few things we need to look into from our side,” Stella said.
“We have to say that some of the positions we lost with the red flag, we felt it was the right thing to pit when so much water was coming. And we don’t regret that.
“It was a cautious pit stop. It ultimately paid for the cars behind us that took a bit of risk of staying out, and then the red flag kind of reset the race. So some learning to take on board, but also some positives.”
Stella added: “Obviously, when you start in pole position, you always hope that you can finish P1. The race has been very eventful and some of the events didn’t play to our favour and this means that actually we finished far from the podium. But still with good points.
“It was important to stay in the race. If we look at the constructors’ championship, it’s important that we out-score Ferrari and this sets the situation strongly for the final part of the season.”
Verstappen now leads Norris by 62 points going into the Las Vegas Grand Prix where the Verstappen could be crowned champion if he finishes ahead of Norris.
