McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted he was “waiting” for both Mercedes cars to fly past Lando Norris at the end of the 2023 Singapore GP after both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell pitted for new medium tyres whilst the McLaren was left vulnerable on its hard tyres that had been on since lap 20.
Photo Credits: McLaren Racing
McLaren brought a heavily upgraded car to Singapore, with revisions to almost all areas of its MCL60 installed on Lando Norris’s car [Piastri is set to get the upgrades at the Japanese GP] meaning the Briton was constantly challenging at the very front of the field, and looked a comfortable bet to finish on the podium with a strong race at Marina Bay.
But a late virtual safety car for Esteban Ocon’s stricken Alpine turned the race in its head on lap 45, as both Mercedes cars pitted for a new set of medium tyres [which they had saved during the weekend], and rejoined the circuit just 14 seconds back from the leading duo of Carlos Sainz and Norris, on 25 laps fresher tyres and a step softer.
Speaking to selected media after the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella admitted he feared McLaren’s podium would fail to materialise, given the advantage the two Mercedes would get on a brand new set of medium tyres, and explained McLaren couldn’t pit Norris in order to cover themselves due to a lack of tyre choice:
“When I saw them going onto sets of brand new mediums, I thought they’re going to pass us,” he said. “The new medium was the correct tyre for that situation, considering the stint length.
“We considered actually pitting, but we would be on a used soft, and we were nervous of 16-17 laps flat out on a used soft. So we decided to stay out. We would have pitted in case of a safety car, but not in case of the virtual safety car.”
The Italian admitted he was “not very optimistic” Norris could keep his second place, but with Mercedes’ progress stalling after getting ahead of Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Sainz’s clever DRS tactics – in which he kept Norris always within range, to help the McLaren defend from the charging black arrows – protected their third podium of the season:
“It was tense, but I was not very optimistic,” he explained. “I was just waiting for it to happen and be ready to say: ‘Don’t get too disappointed.’
“They had double medium, it really played well into their hands with this virtual safety car, and we tried our best. But then things changed.”
Stella said he noticed Mercedes “potentially” suffering from overheating brakes as soon as they caught up to Norris, given some of the radio conversations from the rival team, and said that played a part in the slowing down of their momentum:
“Once behind us, because of potentially brakes overheating – I’m not sure – over the race [Mercedes] talked about brakes quite a bit, so I’m not sure if it was brakes or if it was tyre overheating.
“I think soon they lost a little bit of this momentum, and getting traction with the softer tyres,” added Stella. “Then the last three laps, I said: ‘Maybe we can do it.’”
“But I don’t think obviously we would have done it without the ‘collaboration’ with Carlos. Let’s call it like this, because Carlos, in his own interest, he wanted to have Lando within the DRS.
“So the time when Lando lost it in trying to defend, I think Carlos actively kind of waited for Lando to get within DRS. It was a bit of teamwork between two previous team-mates for a great result for both teams.”
When quizzed about this, Mercedes team principal and CEO Toto Wolff told media at the circuit his team was not suffering from tyres or brakes overheating, and it was just a case of failing to make progress due to Sainz’s DRS tactics with the McLaren:
“No, the surface [temperature of the tyres] were in a happy place, brakes were in good condition, that was all in there,” said Wolff. “But Carlos played it well with the DRS – I think we had one opportunity with Lando, straight when we caught up, and that didn’t function, and I guess we [got] pretty stuck.”
McLaren’s third podium of the season with Norris, allied with Piastri’s excellent P7 finish after starting down in 17th, moves the team ever closer to fighting for fourth place in the constructors’ championship with Aston Martin. The Woking squad has now scored 139 points, just 78 less than the Silverstone team, which started the season very well and then slipped back somewhat.
