'McLaren's hesitation and discussion are costing Norris wins'
F1 News
McLaren missed out on another race win at the British Grand Prix after a making a few errors. With both of their drivers leading the race at one point, it seemed like the team could win, but their decisions when it came to their tyres and pit stops were costly. Speaking on the Sky Sports F1 podcast, former F1 strategy engineer Bernie Collins provided her insight on where it went wrong for the team.
Whilst McLaren have had a strong start to the 2024 season, being just seven points behind Ferrari in the Constructors now, they have made repeated mistakes across race weekends. At Silverstone, team boss Andrea Stella acknowledged the team must take responsibility for their mistakes. Bernie Collins believes the key issue team are having is being too hesistant when it comes to making decisions regarding Norris' car: "It was really interesting watching along because McLaren were in the strong position of having another medium obviously everyone started a medium or largely everyone and that was a really strong tyre for that final stint," she said. "Rather than call it, like, strategy errors, it's more hesitation that I see a lot, particularly on Lando Norris' car. And I'm not blaming Norris for that, you know. It's a team effort in terms of the communication that goes on there."
Who is at fault for the decisions made at Silverstone?
Collins also identified other few issues which cost Norris both a home win and second place, as he lost out on both to Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. "Firstly, they ended up with the wrong tyre fitted. They put on the soft to cover [George] Russell rather than the hard to cover Verstappen but they shouldn't have been really looking at it like that; they should have been looking at what's the best tyre for this final stint," Collins explained. Their discussions over which tyre to use, and when to fit it also meant they missed out on the prime opportunity.
Nevertheless, Collins believes one of the most pressing issues is the communication between the team and Norris. It seems the team are risking becoming to reliant on the driver's input, rather than making their own decisions. "We've heard time and time again you know Lando being asked which tyre would he like but in the car he doesn't have all the info a lot of that info needs to come from the pit wall," the former strategist said. "His focus needs to be on is what is the right lap for the dry because that needs to come largely from the driver. I would have worked closely with my tyre engineer, he would be looking at how many laps are left to go so how long does the tyre need to last, which tyre you think is going to be best... and then it's up to him [Norris]. I think the stronger drivers we see make those sorts of decisions. It's experience from Lando's side as well," she concluded.