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Incredibly stupid strategy calls, on two occasions.
First not pitting on lap 7 which was a slam dunk obvious pit decision. Maybe just maybe Norris has to hold but so what, maybe let him into traffic and take the penalty.
Second super stupid decision was pitting Norris onto hards at the end. He was holding up Max, hurting Max's tires and hoping for a potential red flag. Going until the 25 laps of the tire would put Norris on his half used softs for last 7 laps, again hoping for a SC and by holding Max he would have helped Oscar and himself. At least make Verstappen have to overtake Norris, once he overtakes you can either go to hards or softs, depending on when it happens.
But no, we get Norris to pit and come out 2 seconds behind Antonelli.
At least Antonelli made a mistake and Norris is 12 points ahead.
Norris waa losing time to Sainz and Antonelli. Keeping him up longer only guaranteed 5th. He should have stopped earlier.
Incredibly stupid strategy calls, on two occasions.
First not pitting on lap 7 which was a slam dunk obvious pit decision. Maybe just maybe Norris has to hold but so what, maybe let him into traffic and take the penalty.
Second super stupid decision was pitting Norris onto hards at the end. He was holding up Max, hurting Max's tires and hoping for a potential red flag. Going until the 25 laps of the tire would put Norris on his half used softs for last 7 laps, again hoping for a SC and by holding Max he would have helped Oscar and himself. At least make Verstappen have to overtake Norris, once he overtakes you can either go to hards or softs, depending on when it happens.
But no, we get Norris to pit and come out 2 seconds behind Antonelli.
At least Antonelli made a mistake and Norris is 12 points ahead.
Norris waa losing time to Sainz and Antonelli. Keeping him up longer only guaranteed 5th. He should have stopped earlier.
No matter. The team screwed everything up on the 7th lap.
I think McLaren should have fired Randy Singh already in 2024. They were completely clueless in the strategy department.
This year, once again they have proven that unless you get the most straightforward race imaginable, they have no braincells to come up with any sound strategy. The whole gimmick of the race was the 25 per lap stint limit. The bare minimum you do is calculate the thresholds for safety car windows. You literally don't even have to think for that decision on lap 7, they should have had a computer to tell them "PIT NOW".
Ridiculous really, they have made a fool out of themselves two weeks in a row. Now Abu Dhabi becomes a must-finish and a must-finish on the podium for Norris. Oscar needs divine intervention at this point.
Another proof that McLaren cares only about the Constructors’ Championship.
It’s nice to have new T-shirts for the fans saying “9-time world champions, 10-time…”—more money for marketing, right?
But when it comes to the drivers… aaaah, let’s screw them. Their objective was already achieved in Singapore as a team.
Just when we thought Las Vegas was the biggest failure in recent years—where McLaren cost Lando 18 points and Oscar 12—they decided to make a huge strategy mistake in Qatar and screw both drivers again (now with Oscar on top), robbing him of a win that was crystal clear. Another 7 points gone.
Even with Lando, a P3 was comfortable, but instead he finished P4 (-3 points).
In the end, the papaya rules are working perfectly: both drivers were robbed by McLaren of almost 20 points—the gap that would have made Abu Dhabi irrelevant for Max.
Instead, once again we found out that Randeep Singh is useless. Fire him!!!!
As Oscar said, no words needed.
Last edited by SilviuAgo on 30 Nov 2025, 19:59, edited 1 time in total.
