McLaren addresses major flaw flagged by Verstappen and Norris under regulation

In their post-race comments, Norris and Verstappen pointed out that they were effectively forced into attempting overtakes as soon as they got within a second of the car ahead. The pair also noted that battery deployment appeared to occur automatically, which they believe is a limitation of the current regulations.

However, responding to those concerns, Stella explained that the characteristics of the circuit played a significant role in how energy was deployed.

“What happens on a track like this, where you have three straights one after the other, is that you won’t have enough energy for all three. So you kind of have to pick when you want to attack or defend,” Stella said.

“We saw today that, for instance, when following Ferrari, the right place to attack was between Spoon and the chicane. There, if you press the boost button, you’re going to have an extension of the MGU-K deployment. This will use a lot of your energy and make the speed approaching 130R very high. We’re talking about 340 km/h,” he further explained.

“At 340, 130R is no longer a flat-out corner. So you don’t only lift because you want to recharge; you lift because otherwise you would have a problem from a stability point of view. So lifting in 130R is not only related to energy management, it’s a grip-limited condition. Once you lift, and, for instance, you have not been able to overtake, then if you go back on power, you will have to comply with some regulations that force you to deploy the electrical engine,” he continued.

The McLaren boss suggested that the FIA should review the current battery deployment rules to allow teams greater flexibility, something he believes would improve racing under the new regulations.

“I think otherwise, you find that Lando, a couple of times, has overtaken Lewis Hamilton and then been overtaken back. I think there’s a possibility to allow drivers and engineers to have more freedom,” he concluded.

Earlier, Stella urged the FIA to take urgent action following the incident involving Oliver Bearman at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The McLaren team boss noted how the F1 team had earlier identified the possibility of such an incident occurring as early as pre-season testing in Bahrain.

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