McLaren does not seem to be “overly disappointed” and should be “hurting” after a botched Japanese Grand Prix, according to Jacques Villeneuve. 

In an otherwise uneventful Suzuka race, the main point of contention arose from McLaren’s timing of its pit-stops, with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri within the typical undercut range of race-leader Max Verstappen. 

However, whilst Piastri pitted first a lap before Verstappen, McLaren did not pull the trigger with Norris, despite trying to dummy Red Bull into bringing the leader in for a swap of medium to hard tyres.

Ultimately, both Verstappen and Norris pitted at the end of lap 21, meaning Norris was unable to counter Verstappen’s strategy, eventually coming home 1.423s behind the reigning world champion. 

After the race, 1997 world champion Villeneuve was unimpressed with McLaren’s decision-making after failing to win a grand prix it looked like it would dominate until Verstappen’s astonishing pole lap in qualifying. 

“If the undercut worked like [Stella is saying], because the out lap was quick enough, then Piastri would have undercut Norris, and that wasn’t the case,” Villeneuve explained on Sky Sports F1. 

“There was damage control there, they didn’t seem to be overly disappointed which is strange because they came here, they should have been first and second and they weren’t. 

“They were beaten, not because they were slow, but they were beaten by a team and driver that were better than them – and that should hurt.

“That should make you think, ‘Hmm, there’s something we did wrong this weekend because we should have had a better shot.’

“If you pit on the same lap, of course, you are not going to overtake unless there is a big issue in the pit stop.

“At worst, you give it a try and exchange positions with your team-mate, but at least you get a chance.”

Fellow pundit Naomi Schiff felt McLaren had been conservative with its strategies. 

“It just feels like they always want to run things on the conservative side rather than taking any gambles or risks or just being a little more on the racier side,” she said.

“It feels like they want to get some safe points on the board, that they’re thinking about the long game and not necessarily the individual wins.”