The Piastre And Norris was in control of the match from the start. But McLaren inexplicably changed the logical sequence for the race’s final stops, and it led to some… dramatic moments between the team’s Pitwall and Norris.
McLaren had been pleading with Norris for some time to return the leadership to Piastre. Landau finally did and Piastre took his first career Grand Prix victory. Hamilton was third, a poor match for Verstappen.
Norris played well and in the end he didn’t mistake his teammate when someone else might have. Of course, responsibility for communication rests solely with McLaren.
as Norris Going to take his place on the grid, the gas pedal on his MCL38 gave a problem. McLaren fixed the problem – under FIA supervision – on the build-up lap.
Pirelli offered two pit-stops as a better strategy with a combination of medium and hard rubber. Most drivers in the top ten chose the medium tire for the first position. Only two Aston Martins preferred the soft.
Start
The Piastre He got a better start than Norris and took his teammate on the inside immediately before the first corner. Norris also had to face Verstappen from the outside. As the three cars spun together, Verstappen went off the track.
Piastre won the start from Norris and made the first share for the workshop.
The Dutchman turned in front of Norris. After a few meters he will close him too Hamilton -He had a great start- on the outside of 2, tentatively taking second place. Norris took advantage of this fact to take third place from the Mercedes.
The Turn 1 incident was investigated by race management. Red Bull acted proactively and advised Verstappen to hand over 2nd place back to Norris. Max did it in the 4th round. So after 5 laps Piastre, Norris, Verstappen, Hamilton, Leclerc And St., the Spaniards had a very poor start.
Piastre takes control
Piastre performed brilliantly in the first stint to gain a gap of over three seconds on Norris. So when Hamilton’s Mercedes threw the first pit-stops at the top, McLaren was ready.
Hamilton was one of the first pioneers to switch to hard rubber. This choice by Mercedes would ultimately give the Brit a 3rd place finish.
He called Norris first, then Piastre for a lap to cover Hamilton. The two McLaren drivers were ahead of the Mercedes Verstappen and Leclerc chose to extend their first term. Both drivers entered the race 5 and 9 laps behind Hamilton, respectively, and raced to the fastest final.
Piastre had an exemplary first stage. However, a mistake on lap 33 put Norris back in the game
Piastre was in control of the race after the first stops, with Norris right behind him. Hamilton passed Verstappen in the pits to move up to third. Leclerc and Saint followed in 5th and 6th.
Norris re-enters the game
Piastre had done everything perfectly until the 33rd round. He had opened his gap to 4.5 seconds from Norris. But then he made a mistake at 11 that cost him a lot of time.
Hamilton and Verstappen had a battle from the old days in their second stint. Eventually, the Briton made his second pit-stop.
Slowly but surely Norris closed the gap between them. By lap 41 – and when Hamilton and Leclerc made their second stops – Landau was 1.5 seconds behind his team-mate.
Meanwhile Hamilton and Leclerc’s emergency pit-stops caught Red Bull by surprise. Verstappen was third behind McLaren. However, he was in serious danger with the undercuts of Mercedes and Ferrari. And he was not happy at all.
McLaren undercuts internally for no apparent reason.
On the other hand, the McLarens still had a safety margin from their pursuers. The British team finally called Norris first on lap 45. He knocked out Piastre for two more rounds. The race gave Norris the lead after the final stops. Verstappen also stopped after three laps, finishing fifth behind Hamilton and Leclerc.
Questions
McLaren’s strategic choice raised many questions. Norris was not threatened at the time by Hamilton’s undercut. McLaren could easily call in first Piastre and then Norris for a change and keep the positions up.
The team could have asked Norris to allow Piastre. However he remained at the mercy of Norris’s goodwill. Norris gave a clear answer as to whether he would let his teammate pass. Indeed, the Brit continued to increase his gap from the second-placed McLaren.
Verstappen was a raging bull. His nerves cost him, perhaps, the third step of the platform.
Norris’s mechanic kept coming over the intercom to save on tires. In a free translation, he asked him to confirm that he would allow Piastre to pass. But Lando didn’t answer. McLaren managed to turn a dream result into a communications nightmare.
Memories 2021
Meanwhile, Verstappen overtook Leclerc, pushing Hamilton into 3rd. The Dutchman never fails to sing to his team about its strategy. Annoyed by this, the Dutchman tried to pass Hamilton on lap 63. Both cars rested and Verstappen’s RB20 dropped back to 5th behind Leclerc’s Ferrari.
Lando vs Oscar vs… McLaren
Graphics between Bitwalls McLaren And Norris continued for 3 laps to the finish. Then Norris finally decided to give his teammate first place. Earlier, he had made sure to open the gap between them to 6 seconds!
Hamilton eventually finished third, with Leclerc fourth. Ranked behind Verstappen and Saint Monaco. Perez, Russell, Tsunoda and Stroll completed the rated ten.
Maiden GP win for Piastre and 200th career podium for Hamilton.
McLaren scored their first 1-2 since the 2021 Italian GP. Piastre took his first win and became the 7th driver to reach the highest step of the podium this year.
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