McLaren missed out on winning the British Grand Prix because of some mistakes.
Both drivers were leading at different points, but poor decisions about tyres and pit stops cost them the race. Former F1 strategy engineer Bernie Collins shared her thoughts on what went wrong during a Sky Sports F1 podcast.
McLaren started the 2024 season strong, only seven points behind Ferrari in the Constructors’ standings. However, they have been making repeated errors during race weekends. At Silverstone, team boss Andrea Stella admitted that the team needs to own up to their mistakes. Collins thinks their main problem is hesitation when deciding on 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 pointed out other issues that cost Norris both a home win and second place 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 meant they missed out on prime opportunities.
Fans might think these mistakes are frustrating given how close McLaren is to winning.
Another big issue Collins sees is communication between Norris and his team. It seems they’re relying too much on Norris instead of making clear calls from the pit wall: “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,” she said. “His focus needs to be on is what is the right lap for dry because that needs to come largely from driver.”
She added she would work closely with her tyre engineer who looks at how many laps are left and which tyres will last best: “I think stronger drivers make those sorts of decisions based on experience,” she concluded.
What do you think? Should McLaren change their approach?
