What looked set to be a comfortable 1-2 for McLaren was overshadowed by the controversy over Formula 1 team orders, as Lando Norris appeared set to defy the team.
But was it the driver’s fault or did the team put itself in an unnecessarily difficult position?
Our writers offer their views.
McLaren made it harder on itself – Jonathan Noble
Life at the front of Formula 1 can be a difficult place at times, because when the battle revolves around wins then there is often this endless conflict between an individual driver’s interests and those of his team.
Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
But for all the logical explanations about McLaren wanting to ease the pressure on its pit crews and avoid an error costing it a 1-2, it is hard to come to any other conclusion that the squad made things much more difficult than it needed.
It may have got the outcome it ultimately wanted after the second round of pitstops, with Lando Norris eventually moving aside for team-mate Oscar Piastri with two laps to go, but the price was sowing seeds of doubts in the rivalry between its two drivers.
And it can argue all it wants that it fully trusted Norris to eventually do what he had been asked to, but the repeated radio messages to him – which pulled on the emotional heartstrings at times in making references to not being able to win a championship alone – suggests it was not totally convinced.
What appeared to be missing above all else was a crystal clear plan that could be immediately executed.
It is one thing the pitwall knowing what it wanted to do, and asking for positions to be swapped back, but quite another trying to get things sorted without the drivers having a clear picture of what was going on.
And rather than unleashing a direct order to swap the places back, McLaren’s messages to Norris to “re-establish the order at your convenience” left far too much scope for delays and interpretation.
As Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said afterwards, it was situations like what McLaren experienced today – when individual driver and team desires are not totally in line – that prompted his own team to agree on clear rules of engagement for those times when Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Nico Rosberg were fighting for victories. And from thereon in, there was never any messing about.
‘Valtteri, it’s James’ is perfect proof of that.
Norris gave McLaren a bigger headache…
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