Once again, victory was within reach. Once again, they missed it in several ways. After his first win in Miami, Lando Norris is hungry for his second victory in the premier class. But even though McLaren has presented what is supposed to be the strongest overall package for weeks, it just doesn’t work. In the race, the papaya-colored team can’t get it together on the track. Is McLaren not capable of winning? What’s wrong with the racing team from Woking? In the new edition of the ‘AvD Motorsport Magazine’, Formula 1 expert Christian Danner gets to the bottom of the matter after the British GP.
McLaren has laid the foundation, but what is the next step?
First of all, the expert makes it clear: “McLaren has long since achieved the most important thing. They have produced a car with which they can win. As we know, that is the basic requirement in Formula 1 and also the most difficult thing.”
Now McLaren must continue down this path, using the ‘learning by doing’ method, says Danner: “Learning by doing is a very old-fashioned approach, but in motorsport in particular it is actually the only method that works. Every artificial intelligence makes mistakes, but repairs them and does not make them a second time. And as hard as that may be for McLaren – that is exactly what they have done.”
Christian Danner analyzes: That was an insane mistake by McLaren!
The F1 expert sees the decisive error in the first pit stop phase from lap 26, when the rain shower started. Despite all the predictions and simulation tools, it is ultimately the human who makes the final decision. The failure to change the tires of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, who were close behind each other on the track, on the same lap was “an insane mistake by McLaren,” said Danner, but a human error that will certainly not be repeated next time.
A double stack would have meant a loss of around six seconds for Piastri, who was behind his teammate on the track. On the other hand, the Australian lost between 20 and 25 seconds during the remaining lap on dry tires on a wet track and this was predictable, according to the expert’s analysis.
Lando Norris, where is the personal responsibility?
However, when it comes to choosing tires for the final stint, Danner also holds the driver responsible: “The team wins and loses together. And the driver is also someone who has a say. He is a very, very important, if not the most important, building block.”
Soft, medium, hard – all three tire compounds were a conceivable option for Norris in the case of the final part of the race. “What do you do? You ask the driver. That’s a good, tried and tested method,” suggested Danner. However, Norris was undecided and after a long discussion with his race engineer he simply replied: “I don’t care.” This was met with criticism from the former German racing driver: “That’s not really an opinion.”
The team was left with no choice but to make a decision based on the available data – and they made the wrong choice, says Danner. He believes that the driver should have shown more initiative. He had previously used all the tires in training and was in the best position to judge which one he thought was most suitable. “Don’t always say: ‘You decide.’ No, it’s your own responsibility!” demands the expert.
Christian Danner is convinced: I believe that McLaren will do it!
Another shortcoming is the lack of self-confidence on the part of McLaren. They only chose the red tires at Silverstone in order to Lewis Hamilton, who did the same thing. “After the last race, we talked about how Norris also needs to learn how to overtake Verstappen, knowing who he is overtaking. You can’t go into it naively. You need a plan or you need to take your time. And it’s the same with the team. Simply doing what Mercedes does is not the right plan,” says the ex-racing driver clearly.
But he is equally convinced that McLaren can find the last bit, eliminate the mistakes and finally achieve success: “Yes, of course! Of course they can do it! The people who work there are great.”
According to Danner, the British racing team could face only one danger, and that lies in terms of further development. “Everyone is developing further. Now they have a car that is at least as good – and even better over the distance – than the Red Bull and the Mercedes. They have to implement that now. Now. Because who knows what will happen in two weeks or three races? Then there was a new upgrade, then the Red Bull suddenly starts to perform better again, then they have a problem with the car and are lagging behind,” says Danner, describing a potential scenario. “And that is what makes the whole thing so annoying and what makes it so emotional. The only thing that helps is to stay calm, stay cool and talk to each other,” is the expert’s recommendation.
Does seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton regret switching to Ferrari? After Mercedes’ victory in Silverstone, this question is being asked. In the video, F1 expert Christian Danner takes a stand: