Revealed: McLaren's teamwork to counter Lewis Hamilton tactic

McLaren’s effective teamwork was on full display on their way to winning the F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

During Sunday’s race in Jeddah, Oscar Piastri was warned by his team about Lando Norris’s struggles to overtake Lewis Hamilton as he approached the Ferrari driver following his pit stop.

It took Norris three laps to get past Hamilton as he recovered from his qualifying crash that left him 10th on the grid to take fourth and limit the damage to his 2025 title bid.

Norris twice overtook Hamilton at the final corner, only to be re-passed immediately at Turn 1 by the seven-time world champion, who ensured he benefitted from being in DRS range of the McLaren along the pit straight.

A radio message which was not broadcast during coverage of the race revealed that Piastri was warned about Hamilton’s tactic by his race engineer Tom Stallard.

“Against Lando, Hamilton was letting him through into [Turn] 27 and passing back into 1,” Stallard informed Piastri on Lap 19.

“Best to overtake into 1.”

Piastri would go on to pull off a sublime around-the-outside overtake on Hamilton into Turn 22, one of the fastest sections of the circuit.

McLaren boss reveals teamwork

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained that Norris’s race engineer Will Joseph took it into his own hands to inform Stallard about his driver’s struggles to pass Hamilton.

“You’ve given me the opportunity here to actually tell you a story,” Stella said.

“The story is that Lando’s race engineer proactively told Oscar’s race engineer: ‘We struggled to pass Lewis because we attempted twice in Corner 27 and he passed us back in Corner 1, so make sure that Oscar knows that and he gives it a go directly in Corner 1.’

“I was very proud while on the pit wall to hear that. I didn’t need to prompt anything.

“I was just a spectator to an example of the great team spirit and team work that we have at McLaren.

“So well done to Will Joseph, well done to Tom Stallard, well done to the team of people.

“I think for a podium finish [Norris] would have needed not to lose the time with Hamilton.

“Obviously, Hamilton is Lewis Hamilton. He knows very well how to race and for a couple of laps he managed to pass Lando.

“And I think this cost us the time that ultimately means that we could not give it a go at trying to overtake Leclerc.”