The killer question facing McLaren in tense title fight with Red Bull

In a championship that has become increasingly tense, are McLaren and Lando Norris letting emotions distract their championship hopes?

The United States Grand Prix weekend suggested that McLaren isn’t quite as focused on itself and its own performance as it could be.

Has McLaren distracted itself from title fight?

There’s little doubt that McLaren firmly had momentum on its side heading into the summer break and then again into the unofficial autumn break as Lando Norris took comprehensive wins at Zandvoort and in Singapore, while a dream result in Italy arguably went begging due to a reluctance to impose strict team orders upon Oscar Piastri (not that he did anything wrong!).

Had Piastri been told to hang back and protect Norris, it would have been a very likely McLaren win and what would have been four Woking wins in a row – an impressive run of form that was slowly turning the screw on Red Bull.

Certainly, the autumn break came at just the right time for Red Bull to retreat back to its factory in Milton Keynes and – unlike in the summer shutdown – diligently work in relative peace and calm to try and get to the bottom of the developmental misstep which has blighted the performance of what is unquestionably still a competitive RB20.

But all hell broke loose in the days approaching the race in Austin, as details began to emerge about the possibility of a team using a ride height adjustment device on its car, with the theoretical possibility of it having been used under parc fermé conditions.

The reports of the last few days are now well-documented, with the FIA, for now, deciding no further action is needed on the matter having checked out Red Bull’s adjustment mechanism (as well as those of the other nine teams), aside from a more permanent solution for removing the theoretical possibility of it being used being agreed.

With Red Bull open in admitting the existence of the device (a position it was, in truth, forced into anyway), the focus of the build-up to the Grand Prix thus centred on a part of the car that has apparently existed in its present location since 2021 and has been documented through years of open-source components documentation lodged with the FIA.

It was on this matter that McLaren CEO Zak Brown was very forthright in his suspicions about the design, questioning why Red Bull had placed it where they had – under the cockpit pedals and seemingly needing specialist access tools – when the other nine teams have placed theirs outside the cockpit.

Calling for thorough investigations from the FIA, Brown pointed out that “What doesn’t quite stack up is the comment that you can modify it. Well, then why does the FIA feel they need to put a seal on it if it’s not accessible post or during parc fermé – why put a seal on it?”

Brown reiterated his suspicions in an interview segment with Sky F1, and joked about having a special bib on his McLaren roadcar as he and Danica Patrick drove into COTA – another barbed statement that showed just how much the topic was dominating his thought process coming into the weekend.

Despite the FIA deciding the matter is taken care of, Brown hasn’t let it go just yet, saying he has heard suggestions that it has been used under parc fermé conditions – a very serious transgression if proven.

“I’d like to see the senior leadership, the former chief mechanics and the current mechanics sign an affidavit stating that they have never used or have no knowledge of it being used,” the McLaren CEO told the Daily Mail.

“The suggestion in the pit lane from a handful of people is that it has been used in that manner, so the only way to bottom it out is the old-fashioned ‘sign here’, stating what has gone on.

“I know if I was presented with an affidavit and the consequences of not telling the truth were severe, I’d tell the truth.

“I am confident the matter is dealt with going forward. But if they have done it in the past, there is no grey area about it. Modifying your car in parc ferme is as clear a breach of the regulations as possible.”

Brown says he’s not the only team boss concerned by the issue, although is certainly the most vocal.

“All the teams talk, as you can imagine,” he said, “so I know I’m not alone.

“I might be a little bit more outspoken than others on the particular topic, but I know my concerns are shared by many others.”

The focus on Red Bull wasn’t the only thing on McLaren’s mind in Austin, as it emerged that the Woking-based squad had changed its rear wings to reduce flexibility following the discovery of the ‘mini-DRS’ feature on its low-downforce wing in Baku.

While the team denied it had been asked to do so, and was making changes “proactively”, the FIA’s Nikolas Tombazis told Autosport McLaren had received direct communication about their rear wings: “We specifically gave a warning to them.

“We said, ‘Look, we consider that as something you need to change.’ If they had ignored us, and they generally don’t, then we would have reported them.”

Speaking in Singapore, team boss Andrea Stella said it was good that McLaren’s rivals were focusing on the rear wings as it meant they were getting distracted: “Well the effect is absolutely zero.

“I think we saw it today. For us, it’s just good news that our competitors get distracted with this kind of things because it means they don’t focus on themselves and for us it’s just an advantage.

“We are completely comfortable that this is a little bit of a red herring that someone is speaking up. The wing is legal.

“There’s no topic really. I think it’s just a story but it looks like everyone looks for some stories. It’s good, it’s good for us.

“We keep focused on ourselves, feet on the ground, keep delivering upgrades and that’s what we do. We talk on the track.”

But the Austin weekend showed quite the opposite. COTA represented one of six remaining chances left for McLaren to do that on-track talking and keep up the pressure in the Drivers’ Championship – but it was Red Bull and Verstappen who came out the net beneficiary after a tense weekend.

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Did emotion dictate the outcome of the Max Verstappen and Lando Norris battle?

While Norris was understandably frustrated after the race, he was dejected and calm by the time he spoke to the media, praising Verstappen for their battle – he was harder on himself and his own performance than he was on the Dutch driver’s tactics, perhaps having realised that Verstappen had made full use of the allowances of the Guidelines.

But Stella was less placated than his driver, and deemed the stewards’ decision as “unacceptable interference” and revealed McLaren had interpreted the manner completely differently to the stewards.

“When I saw that there was an under investigation, I was pretty sure that was because Max pushed Lando off the track,” he said.

“And in fact, we told immediately Oscar [chasing the two drivers], ‘make sure you close five seconds on Max because there could be a position at stake.’ So the interpretation of this situation between McLaren and the stewards is polar opposite.

“I am surprised that the stewards didn’t even feel the need to discuss with the drivers after the race. It is an uncertain situation. Get the opinion of the drivers, get the time to assess the situation with the level of details that is required when the situation is not so clear,” continued Stella.

“So where is the urgency to interfere with the result of a race? With a championship? Just because you have to make the decision in 60 seconds? It’s a question mark that I think the stewards should take constructively. Positively.

“Is it really needed to make a decision so quickly, and in our opinion, so wrongly?”

Whether it’s fair racing or not, Verstappen had obeyed the letter of the law according to the Driving Guidelines – these guidelines are set to be ratified into the International Sporting Code for 2025, and will formalise the rules of racing.

McLaren’s misjudgment was in allowing Norris to continue on track ahead of Verstappen not only costing him a chance at a clean overtake with a faster car, but also resulting in a penalty. It was a moment of operational hesitancy, clouded by emotion in the heat of battle. Contrast that with Verstappen calmly getting on the radio to point out “He overtook me off track” – a matter-of-fact understanding of what had unfolded, and what he, perhaps, had intentionally set Norris up for.

Austin suggested the two championship rival teams have a very different mentality coming into the final races of F1 2024, and it’s McLaren that is showing its inexperience in dealing with the pressure. It’s understandable – there’s no point in pretending to be otherwise – this is a new and exciting dynamic for McLaren and it’s the first time Brown and Stella have the chance to bring glory back to the Woking team after 25 years without a Driver’s title.

But McLaren’s actions over the weekend suggested it isn’t quite as focused on itself as Stella and Brown are eager to portray – Stella, in particular, has very much maintained a level-headed “let’s see what the points are after Abu Dhabi” approach, but even the most logical and calm of engineers will still be feeling frissons of tension and excitement as the season reaches its climax with McLaren capable of delivering both titles.

Despite its issues throughout the middle of the year, Red Bull has kept its composure in the face of intense pressure both on and off track.

What is in McLaren’s favour is that Red Bull is fighting for the title with, essentially, one performing driver – a situation that is slowly proving to be a textbook case of the sunken cost fallacy – but the Woking squad can’t relax in the Constructors’ chase just yet.

But, while there’s no doubt that they are feeling the pressure just as intensely as McLaren – particularly given its one-handed fight – Red Bull has been better able to put into practice what McLaren claims to do by focusing on itself and not paying attention to its rival.

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