Why McLaren’s ‘fair and square’ Hungarian strategy split could repeat itself at Zandvoort

The differing strategy used by Lando Norris in Hungary saw him come out on top of an intra-team battle for the win, in a year which has usually seen he and Oscar Piastri embark on the same strategy in a bid to ensure fairness.

While not yet a mathematical certainty, the two McLaren drivers are realistically fighting for the F1 2025 title between themselves and, in a bid to ensure an equal chance is given to both, the Woking-based squad is doing its utmost to ensure neither driver receives preferential treatment in any way – including strategically.

Lando Norris’ surprise benefit from unexpected strategy split in Hungary

A month ago, at the Hungarian Grand Prix just before the summer shutdown, Norris unexpectedly benefitted from a mid-race strategy call that saw him come on top in what was a rare occurrence of differing approaches to the race for the two drivers.

In the first stint, Piastri had been applying the pressure on race leader Charles Leclerc, while Norris was battling to get back on terms after slipping to fifth on the opening lap.

Piastri’s stop on Lap 18 was a lap before Leclerc’s, as McLaren attempted the undercut, but Norris, staying out on track and keeping his tyres alive, didn’t come in until Lap 31.

This tyre delta enabled Norris to do just a single stop, with Piastri forced to pit again. Despite his fresher tyres, Piastri wasn’t able to catch Norris in time to overtake him by the chequered flag.

With no team orders applied to give Piastri back the win despite his loss being down to team strategy decisions, the Australian was downbeat but pragmatic afterward, acknowledging that Norris had had “little to lose” in the gamble to stay out and, against expectations, keep the tyres alive long enough in the first stint to make the one-stop possible, with the expectation pre-race being that both would have the two-stop strategy.

According to Pirelli, the Dutch Grand Prix is also marginal on whether it’s a one or two-stop strategy.

A split strategy, inevitably, will prove one to be correct and, in a straight fight between two drivers in the same team, coming out on the right side of this coin toss could prove decisive in a title battle which sees the pair separated by just nine points with 10 race weekends left.

With no intention of applying team orders to its drivers, McLaren team boss Andrea Stella addressed the possibility of another split strategy happening in the Dutch Grand Prix after qualifying saw his drivers lock out the front row.

“The strategy is one of the variables through which the competition between Lando and Oscar can express itself, can be unfolded,” he told media, including PlanetF1.com, in the Dutch GP paddock.

“But let me say, first of all, that we have Lando, we have Oscar, we have Max Verstappen.

“So, the first thing we have to do in the interest of the team and in the interest of Lando and Oscar is to make sure that we beat Max, who is not very far away from us.

“Based on the difficulties in overtaking and the fact that there could be also some weather, first of all, we have to make sure that we, as a team, get the best result for the team, with Lando and Oscar finishing, possibly, in the order that the car performance would say.

“At the moment, we can see that McLaren is the fastest car.”

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Without going as far as to explain the nature of the rules in place internally, Stella revealed that there is what appears to be constraints placed on the strategic options open to the two sides of the garage – a tactic which would likely have the effect of reducing an “us vs. them” mentality across the two sides of the McLaren garage and reduce the possibility of acrimony based on feelings of favouritism.

“When it comes to the options from a strategic point of view in between our two drivers, we do have some rules for that,” Stella said.

“I’m not going to share what rules they are, but whatever you have seen so far [this year] in terms of how the strategy has been utilised, it’s always been within our rules.

“So it’s perfectly right, for instance, that there are deviations in terms of strategy, and not necessarily gambling like in Hungary – the one-stop wasn’t completely out of the cards.

“It was unlikely to be one of the strategies, but it wasn’t simply a matter of a gamble, and even here, the strategy is not far between a one and a two-stop.”

With Piastri having come out the loser of the strategic divergence in Hungary, despite having led Norris on track during the first quarter of the race, Stella was asked whether he had had to manage the championship leader’s disappointment or had given him pause on allowing any strategic freedom.

“Definitely, we had our debriefs, our reviews, our conversations, but both drivers, Oscar included, they accepted that there’s a degree of variability in racing,” Stella said.

“There’s a level of variation of scenarios that can realise and that not necessarily are under your control.

“At the time at which we stopped Oscar, we didn’t think, in fairness, that Lando would have been in condition to beat Oscar or Leclerc, because we thought that all cars were going on a two-stop.

“When Lando found himself in condition to extend and see if a one-stop was possible, then credit to Lando that he managed the tyres very well.

“He made a one stop work, but this didn’t create any sort of concern in terms of our two drivers, because this was all fair and square and within the principles that we have set out for the way we go racing.”

With the chessboard set up for another intra-McLaren fight from the front row at Zandvoort, Stella admitted there’s still some looking behind at what Verstappen might do from third on the grid.

“I think it will be, once again, interesting – not only between the two McLaren drivers, but also with the other drivers,” he said.

“Max, for instance, he has a new soft that he saved from qualifying, and it could be a pretty powerful weapon if you can deploy this weapon strategically at the right time.”

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