Source:REUTERS/ALTAF QADRI
[Saba Sports News] At the 2025 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, despite Max Verstappen securing the race victory, he could not prevent Lando Norris from being crowned world champion by a narrow margin of two points. After the race, McLaren team principal Andrea Stella revealed the key tactical decision made during the race: the tire strategy effectively prevented Verstappen from implementing any tactics to control the pace or slow down the pack.
Theoretically, for Verstappen to overturn the situation, he would have needed to win the race while pushing Norris down to fourth place or lower. Before the race, there was widespread speculation that Verstappen would try to control the speed, deliberately slowing the pace to allow the trailing cars to close in on Norris. However, this did not happen at all; instead, Verstappen chose to push hard and quickly establish a lead, primarily due to the strategy set by McLaren well in advance.
Stella disclosed that from the end of qualifying, McLaren decided to have Norris and Oscar Piastri use different tire compounds in the race, with Norris on medium tires and Piastri on hard tires. This decision had two objectives: first, to allow Piastri to limit Verstappen’s strategic options in the early stages, and second, to prevent the Red Bull team from being able to slow down the pace.
In the first lap, Piastri quickly overtook Norris, which was a result of prior discussions and coordination between the two drivers and their team. Piastri’s hard tires had a longer lifespan, and as long as he stayed within DRS range of Verstappen, Red Bull could not afford to slow down; they had to push at full speed to avoid being overtaken by Piastri or falling into a disadvantageous two-stop strategy.
Ultimately, McLaren secured second and third places, guaranteeing a spot on the podium, with Norris achieving his first career victory due to his consistent performance and Piastri playing a crucial role thanks to this strategy.