McLaren’s “clever” F1 strategy gave Red Bull a hard time in Abu Dhabi GP

Laurent Mekies has applauded McLaren’s strategy for Formula 1’s title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which left his Red Bull team with a tough decision to make for Max Verstappen.

After qualifying third, Oscar Piastri was given hard tyres for the opening stint of the race, unlike Verstappen’s and Lando Norris’ mediums. This meant Piastri stayed out longer, and a potential well-timed safety car intervention could even have helped him to victory.

Most strategies recommended by Pirelli involved a first stint on mediums, and Red Bull admittedly was surprised that McLaren willingly risked Piastri losing ground at the start on the hard compound.

“It was quite clever from their side,” team boss Mekies said. “It gave them a lot of options and ultimately gave us two scenarios to battle for the win. So yeah, we were not expecting it.”

Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Team Principal

Photo by: Erik Junius

Piastri even passed title-contending team-mate Norris for second on the opening lap, before his very long opening stint prevented Verstappen from engaging in backing-up tactics to jeopardise Norris’ race.

Had Piastri won, Verstappen would have lost the title regardless of what happened to Norris, so he couldn’t afford to slow down while the Australian was in the lead.

Verstappen’s only opportunity to emulate Lewis Hamilton’s 2016 attempt to bunch up the pack came after right Piastri pitted. However, changing the Red Bull’s tyres on the next lap would have carried a risk of losing the lead to the Australian if the pitstop was short of perfect.

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In the end, Red Bull believed it had more to lose by pitting and bunching up the field than maintaining Verstappen’s lead and hoping Norris might somehow lose another position.

Asked about a potential pitstop, Mekies said: “It was possible to do it. We didn't feel it was the right option for us.

“I mean, we would have given up quite a large advantage by doing so. And we didn't think that playing tactics would give us an edge today for the situations we were in. So we chose to stay out to maximise the advantage we had and to concentrate on winning the race.

“As we said, you know, we can't control what's behind us. So we did discuss that option, but we stick to our plan.”

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