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McLaren boss points out bizarre ‘counter-intuitive’ flaw in new F1 rules

Photo: Race Pictures

F1 News

17:01, 14 Mar

Updated: 17:14, 14 Mar

2 Comments

byTobia Elia

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella pointed out that, at times, making mistakes during a lap can actually bring energy-related benefits.

“Occasionally there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake actually saves some energy, therefore you go faster overall in a sector”

- Andrea Stella

Speaking to GPblog among other media after qualifying, the Italian team principal explained that these “counter-intuitive” situations can sometimes even benefit lap time, while questioning whether such scenarios truly belong to the real nature of Formula 1.

“Occasionally there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake actually saves some energy, therefore you go faster overall in a sector because the energy you saved with the delay in the throttle because you had a problem is going to reward you at the end of the straight.

“Obviously this goes much more as to...do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counter-intuitive situation belongs to the business or not? I think this is more of a high-level philosophical question. I think fans are a part of this in finding the answer, but above all the drivers are a part of this in finding the answer.”

He finally added: “It's for F1 and the FIA now to collect the feedback, create a picture. The tools to respond now exist. I think we have understood enough of the regulation to understand how we can apply some tweaks, but it's more for the FIA and F1, I think, to assess the situation and decide whether this will have to be applied or not.”

Photo: Race Pictures

Norris reveals key trigger behind McLaren performance leap in China

McLaren have shown clear progress this weekend compared to the season opener in Melbourne, with Norris and Piastri able to trouble the two Ferraris by getting ahead of them in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying and broadly matching their pace in the Sprint race.

The reigning world champion explained that the improvement also comes down to the characteristics of the Shanghai circuit, which is less demanding from a power unit perspective and therefore reduces some of the differences seen elsewhere, allowing the teams to operate on a more level playing field and enabling McLaren to extract a solid performance from the car.