McLaren had to improvise: 'Norris's penalty made things a little complex'

McLaren did not have the easiest weekend in Austria, but still managed to get a double points finish out of it. This despite the five-second penalty imposed on Lando Norris for exceeding track limits. That penalty made it quite complicated to come up with the right strategy, the team explains.

"Our weekend in Austria started badly and ended well, which is definitely the way around you want it to go," the analysis on the official website of McLaren. The British team did not have a great Friday, forcing Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo to start the race from the back of midfield.

Norris penalty complicates strategy

The main race on Sunday went much better, but the five-second penalty handed to Norris complicated matters strategically. Randy Singh, director of strategy and sport at the team, explains: "Lando’s penalty made the second stops a little complex. It was actually less to do with the cars that were physically around us like the Haas of Magnussen and Russell in the Mercedes because, in reality, those cars are five seconds ahead of Lando, and we were not really in a tactical battle with them anymore."

So the team opted to time the second stops of both Norris and Ricciardo so that they were ahead of any undercut. This, according to Singh, was the safest way to ensure that neither car would lose positions to cars that had already made a stop.