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Juan Pablo Montoya believes McLaren ‘threw away’ a victory for Lando Norris in the Miami Grand Prix after taking a ‘conservative approach’ in the reigning world champion’s race strategy.
Following an early duel between Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris looked comfortable out in front after he snatched the lead of the Miami Grand Prix until the pit window opened around halfway into the race.
Mercedes’ decision to undercut Antonelli proved to be the deciding factor in the proceedings. McLaren left it one lap later, which saw the young Italian leapfrog their reigning world champion upon Norris’ exit from the pit lane.
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Norris outlined his frustration with the lack of a win in his post-race radio message to the McLaren pit-wall, simply telling his race engineer that he should be the one readying himself for a trip to the top step of the podium.
Still, F1 pundit James Hinchcliffe felt like Norris’ demeanour showed his champion-like mentality. It was still an encouraging result for the Woking-based outfit, who failed to field any of their cars during the Chinese GP just two rounds ago.
- READ MORE: Lando Norris salutes ‘incredible’ Kimi Antonelli for beating George Russell at the age of 19
Juan Pablo Montoya thinks McLaren ‘threw away’ a win for Lando Norris in Miami GP
In the latest episode of the MontoyAS podcast, F1 pundit Juan Pablo Montoya shared his thoughts on the race strategies of each team during the recent Miami GP.
The Colombian, who was in attendance at the race as part of F1TV’s coverage, was initially asked whether he thought Red Bull’s call to pit Max Verstappen early on during the Grand Prix was the right move.
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“Yes, it was the right move, and it was their only chance of winning the race.” Montoya replied. “I think they believed they had the pace to win the race, and since Max made a mistake and wasn’t in the lead anymore, the strategy changed.
“If Max had stayed in the lead, they wouldn’t have pitted. They took that risk because they’re determined to win the race at all costs.”
The seven-time Grand Prix winner then noted the strategies of Red Bull’s rivals, both Mercedes and McLaren, adding, “Mercedes did a good job.
“McLaren, I think they’re still coming in with last year’s mindset, the conservative approach of just scoring points, and they threw the race away.
“You see Max coming in and going super fast on new tyres, you see Russell came in, and the new tyres were flying.
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“You’ve got a two-second lead, and they’re taking more than two seconds off you in a single lap. You have to react. You have to react and not just sit there; you have to make the pit stop if everyone else is already coming in.”
Montoya also had some words of advice for the McLaren pit-wall, who he thinks need to be a lot ‘more aggressive’ due to the fact that the MCL40 is not as dominant as its predecessors.
“If you look at last year, Red Bull beat McLaren a couple of times because they were conservative with their strategy,” he recalled.
“It’s been said they don’t sit back as Ferrari has done, but they do have a bit of that. So they need to be a bit more aggressive because they don’t have the best car.”
- READ MORE: Bernie Collins claims Lando Norris ‘signalled’ title intention but a ‘question’ lingers over McLaren
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