F1 | McLaren: Norris believed in second place, but was it feasible?

The Australian GP ended with a nice Ferrari one-two, although clearly facilitated by Max Verstappen's retirement due to a mechanical problem on his car. A Red Dawn followed by the McLaren duo, with Lando Norris finishing on the podium ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.

However, at the end of the race the Briton did not hide a certain bitterness for the third place finish because, despite the fact that he did not have the pace to aim for victory, he believed he had a concrete chance of snatching second place from Leclerc.

Norris in fact started the race ahead of the Monegasque and remained ahead of him even in the first part of the Grand Prix, but the strategic choices of the two teams, as well as a performance gap between the two cars, then weighed on his ambitions. Reflecting on the day, the Englishman expected to be able to fight for the podium thanks to the pace he had already shown on Friday, where in fact he had recorded positive signs over the long distance, but he still remains disappointed at not having achieved second place.

“Excluding Red Bull, I would say that the podium was not a surprise. I think our pace was good all weekend. We put all the various aspects together well and showed a good pace already on Friday. So I wouldn't have said we had no chance of aiming for the podium,” Norris explained after the race.

“I think our race pace wasn't as good as Sainz's, but it was probably better than Leclerc's. I think we missed the opportunity to be in second place a bit, but saying so is a good sign, a positive boost for the whole team.”

But is it really like that? To understand whether second place was possible, it is interesting to analyze the indications offered by the Australian Grand Prix, starting from the opening stint. When you start in front of an opponent, although this was partly facilitated by two less than clean laps from Leclerc in qualifying, ambitions clearly rise, especially if he is then also able to keep his rivals behind him. However, the sensation was immediately that the Monegasque potentially had something more in his stride, constantly remaining around half a second behind the Briton.

While Sainz immediately took off in front, lowering his times from lap to lap, until he guaranteed that safety margin which then allowed him to extend the stint, Norris maintained a rather constant pace, without forcing it. This kept the small group formed by the two McLarens and Leclerc himself compact, leaving room for different strategic evaluations. Playing 2 against 1 and knowing that this race would potentially be about limiting degradation, the Woking engineers attempted to put the Red in difficulty.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The idea was therefore to anticipate the stop of Piastri, the last of the group, in order to try to put the Cavallino in check: if Leclerc had not returned to the pits, the Australian would have managed to complete the race. undercut virtually gaining the podium whereas, otherwise, different scenarios would have opened up. Listening to their opponents' team radios, Ferrari's strategists were well aware of the possibility that such a situation could arise, in turn generating a chain reaction.

The most interesting aspect, however, is that in fact the Red Team had prepared on two fronts. Warning Piastri of the stop could have only been a diversion to push the Maranello team to stop at a precise moment, so much so that Leclerc had been informed via radio to follow the opposite choice to that of Norris, a signal that Ferrari had also taken into consideration the possibility of staying out if the Briton was the first to pit.

In part it was precisely that choice that changed the fate of the race. The Cavallino, finding itself in the middle and being aware of the Piastri danger, could not avoid stopping, thus completing an undercut on Norris, who remained out in an attempt to lengthen the stint and create a delta in terms of tire life to be exploited more after you. Furthermore, having re-entered traffic, Leclerc had to put a lot of pressure on the tires to overtake his rivals in the shortest possible time, a particularly detrimental aspect for the tyres.

The first laps of each stint are fundamental from a management point of view and these passages in search of performance, followed by the Virtual SC, triggered graining on the tires which Leclerc then paid for later. In Australia it is essential to find that balance between overheating and graining to manage the two axes. It is no coincidence that the Monegasque was then asked on several occasions to save the tire in turns six, ten and twelve, the most demanding ones and which put the most energy into the tyres, in order to force excessively before the end of the stint. Furthermore, having brought forward the stop, we are clearly also forced to follow a more conservative approach in management in the hope of realigning ourselves with our rivals.

Telemetry comparison between Norris and Leclerc in the Australian GP

Photo by: Gianluca D'Alessandro

These aspects allowed Norris, who had a difference in terms of tire life of six laps in his favour, to recover and get dangerously close to Leclerc, until he reached what could have been the ideal area to attempt an undercut. The Monegasque was having great difficulty managing the tyres, especially the front left, so much so that in the final laps he began to noticeably suffer from understeer, once again suggesting an early stop.

McLaren had indeed considered stopping, but was aware that Ferrari would potentially do the same. Ultimately the Woking team didn't have much to lose and planned the timing in an interesting way. Ideally Leclerc would have returned right in front of Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso, who were not showing great pace, but brought forward the break again

Furthermore, if there were any problems during the pit stop, there was a real possibility that the Monegasque could exit into traffic, giving McLaren greater margin for manoeuvre.

However, the Rossa's mechanics made no mistakes, completing an excellent stop in 2.1s, enough to put Leclerc in front of both Perez and Alonso. It's true that Norris could have brought forward the stop himself, as he suggested at the end of the race, but this would realistically have made him end up in the traffic of both the Mexican and the Spaniard.

the McLaren F1 team makes a pit stop on Lando Norris' car, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

By not having to fight with his rivals, Leclerc was able to manage his pace more carefully in the first phase of life, reducing the risk of graining and excessive degradation compared to what had previously been seen. It is no coincidence that, in the rest of the stint, the times remained very consistent, rejecting the comeback attempt by Norris, who always remained above three seconds behind despite being able to count on a difference in tire life in favor of six laps .

“Leclerc finished ahead of Lando because at the moment he has a faster car”, said Andrea Stella at the end of the race, underlining how achieving second place was very difficult.

“The positive news is that Ferrari is not much faster than us. We were very close, which I think is encouraging for Japan, where some of the characteristics that make Australia a good track for us will allow us to take another step forward. In Suzuka there will be more medium and high speed corners than low speed ones”, added the Team Principal, postponing the challenge to two weeks in the land of the Rising Sun.