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McLaren explains "aggressive and defensive" Norris Baku strategy

McLaren Formula 1 team sporting director Gil de Ferran called the extra Azerbaijan Grand Prix pitstop that dropped Lando Norris behind team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr an "aggressive and defensive" tactic.

Having reached Q3 and qualified seventh, Norris had run ahead of Q2 departure Sainz for most of the Baku F1 race as they chased eventual sixth place finisher Sergio Perez's Racing Point.

In the closing stages the pair had such an advantage over the cars behind that there when the virtual safety car was deployed it was a possible to do a free pitstop that would not cost a position to another team.

Norris was ahead of Sainz in seventh, but having made his first stop four laps earlier, the rookie was on older tyres, and there were concerns about how they would behave at the resumption after the VSC.

The McLaren pitwall therefore elected to stop the rookie, dropping him behind Sainz, but without impacting the team's overall haul of points.

The potential upside for Norris was that had a late safety car closed up the field his much fresher final set could have given him an advantage.

"That was a strategic decision that was designed to be both aggressive and defensive at the same time," de Ferran told Autosport.

"We obviously had a free pit stop.

"Because we didn't run on Friday there was some uncertainty as to whether the tyres were going to be able to restart well, being quite worn, on a late safety car.

"There was also some concern over were they going to be able to last the race in a good way.

"By doing a pitstop we protected ourselves against that eventuality with one of the cars, and also put ourselves in a position where if the soft came into the window better late in the race we could have been in a strong position to attack.

"None of that happened, but it was a piece of risk management that we deployed because we had the opportunity to do so."

Norris said he had no problem with the decision to pit and drop him behind Sainz, despite losing two points from his personal tally.

"It's not an easy place to turn the tyres on and get them working," he told Autosport.

"The main thing that didn't play into our favour is the temperature, the ambient temperature.

"What's gone on in the past, in practice and P3 and quali, is people aren't able to turn tyres on when they get cold, and we were just banking on that a little bit more, and hoping that after the safety car they wouldn't be able to get the tyres to work as well.

"But it was almost the opposite. They gained quite a bit of pace, and I was dropping even in the last couple of laps. I didn't have the pace.

"It was a good decision for us to make, a good thing to try, as a team.

"It was only me who lost a couple of points, or a point, whatever it was.

"As a team, we didn't lose or gain, so it was a good decision, it just didn't turn out how we wanted it to."

Zdroj: autosport.com