McLaren has admitted its approach to team orders is making life difficult for itself, but says there is no “easy solution” that does not risk upsetting one of its drivers.

The Woking-based squad successfully came through the Brazil sprint race with a 1-2 finish, having swapped it cars around to help Lando Norris’s quest to win the world championship.

But the situation was far from straightforward as, with Norris stacked up behind Oscar Piastri earlier in the race, the team risked the Briton being exposed to attack from Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen right behind him.

While the occasional window appeared to open up in the early stages of the 24-lap sprint to get Piastri to let Norris through, the team kept them racing until two laps from home – when the risk of a Virtual Safety Car for Nico Hulkenberg’s stranded Haas forced its hand in getting the swap done.

McLaren was fortunate that neither Leclerc nor Verstappen were able to stay right with Norris though, because having not switched its cars earlier there was a danger of it never having an opportunity to do so before the chequered flag.

Team principal Andrea Stella has admitted that the team orders situation is a difficult one to manage – but points out that there is no solution that will keep the team and both drivers perfectly happy.

“Making life difficult for ourselves is natural, because when you have two drivers that can win races and a car that can win races, this first thing you have to accept is there’s not an easy solution,” he told Motorsport.com.

“That already sets you in a good mindset to deal with the potential difficulties.

“But, like I have said already in the past, we have worked very hard to put ourselves in this difficult situation – and we are all on the same page: team and drivers.

“I always discuss with the drivers, and say that this is the most difficult thing we are going to face in our career, because this is the only thing that we cannot face by having our interests exactly matching.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, 2nd position, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, congratulate each other

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Why McLaren delayed the switch

McLaren went into the Brazil sprint crystal clear that the ultimate intention was to have Norris finish ahead of Piastri.

However, what was not settled was how that would be executed in the race, especially because the team could not be certain about how its rivals would get involved.

Explaining how its calls played out, Stella said that the team had agreed with both drivers that they race away as normal – with the priority being that they do not allow any other cars to get between them.

The idea then was to swap the cars once the pair had got to the point where there was a big enough gap behind Norris, so that race-leader Piastri would not be at risk of being overtaken by anyone else.

Stella added: “We knew that we wanted to swap. But we were waiting for the right gap behind Lando, because if you swap and the other car gets in the DRS, we may compromise one of the principles, which is maximum result for the team.

“So, we were observing, and we were ideally waiting for a couple of seconds [gap], but repeated for a couple of laps.”

Stella said that without the gap behind Norris staying large enough for several laps, it felt the risk was too much to force a change too soon.

“The gaps in the sectors were moving around a bit, and I wasn’t completely comfortable to expose Oscar to Leclerc, because, at some stage, Leclerc didn’t seem slow at all at the start of the race.

“Even the time the two seconds appeared, the next lap, it was 1.2 seconds. We were waiting for the right opportunity.

“We didn’t want to get excited and then create a situation that doesn’t maximise the result for the team. We knew that we had time to do that, unless there was a risk of a safety car.

“And as soon as we saw the risk of a safety car towards the end of the race, then we needed to accelerate the process.”

Max Verstappen is under investigation for a potential virtual safety car infringement during the Formula 1 sprint race at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The championship leader had seemingly minimised the damage to nearest challenger Lando Norris, who was waved past by McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to take the win.

However, with Verstappen coming home third, the Red Bull driver had only dropped two points to Norris.

But he now faces scrutiny after the end of the 24-lap sprint race saw a virtual safety car deployed as the Haas of Nico Hulkenberg stopped at the side of the track.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said to Sky Sports F1 afterwards that he “didn’t see anything wrong” with Verstappen’s driving.

The Dutchman already has a five-place grid penalty for Sunday’s Brazilian GP after changing his engine outside of his allocation ahead of the weekend.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Verstappen leads the title fight by 45 points as he looks to defend his championship title despite Red Bull currently being out-performed by both McLaren and Ferrari.

Having qualified fourth for the sprint, Verstappen passed Charles Leclerc to finish behind the two McLarens, who switched places to aid Norris’ title ambitions.

It is unclear at present which regulation Verstappen may have fallen foul of but the rules regarding virtual safety cars stipulate:

“56.3 – No car may be driven unnecessarily slowly, erratically or in a manner which could be deemed potentially dangerous to other drivers or any other person at any time whilst the VSC procedure is in use. This will apply whether any such car is being driven on the track, the pit entry road, or the pitlane.

“56.5 – All competing cars must reduce speed and stay above the minimum time set by the FIA ECU at least once in each marshalling sector and at both the first and second safety car lines (a marshalling sector is defined as the section of track between each of the FIA light panels).”

Lando Norris was waved through by team-mate Oscar Piastri to win Formula 1’s 2024 Brazil sprint race, with the second McLaren saved from a Max Verstappen attack by a late virtual safety car.

However, the Red Bull driver faces a post-race investigation for his actions as the VSC was ending on the final lap.

At the start, polesitter Piastri moved across to cut off Norris’s run to the inside at Turn 1, where the McLarens held their positions and Verstappen locked up unsuccessfully attacking Charles Leclerc’s third place.

The McLaren pair moved slightly clear in the early laps, before Leclerc – who was unmoved by an early look from Verstappen into Turn 4 at the end of the track’s second straight – and the world champion closed back up.

Norris suggested he thought Piastri should have let him by in the opening quarter of the 24-lap contest, but the only order in the first half was for the leader to give his team-mate DRS after the second McLaren had fallen slightly away as the first 10 laps ended.

Leclerc perused the McLarens closely through the next phase before a moment at the Senna S on lap 13 meant he had to defend against Verstappen to Turn 4 and the McLarens finally snapped the DRS threat from behind.

But, just as McLaren was telling Norris it expected to swap positions late in the race, Leclerc’s pace dipping meant Verstappen was finally able to fight by at Turn 4 with DRS on the outside line on lap 18.

Verstappen quickly tore a chunk from Norris’s lead ahead, as he continued to lap regularly within a second of his team-mate.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

The McLaren pair in the pulled a two-second gap to Verstappen as lap 20 kicked off, before the Red Bull then closed in by a few tenths.

Then when Nico Hulkenberg pulled off at Turn 8 in his Haas, McLaren suddenly had to urgently swap the lead in fear of the VSC that eventually came.

On lap 22, Piastri obeyed the instruction to let Norris by, with Verstappen suddenly all over the now second McLaren and threatening massively in third.

But just before the penultimate lap kicked off, the VSC was activated and the race neutralised.

There was to be one last moment of action when the VSC ended as Norris made it to Turn 4 on the final lap, with Verstappen pulling out from behind Piastri’s slipstream as if to attack with the neutralisation still active.

When it went green, Norris powered clear easily to win by 0.5s, while Verstappen did not get to make his move as by this stage he and Piastri and reached Turn 4.

Soon after the race ended, it was announced that Verstappen’s actions are being investigated for a possible infringement.

Ferrari’s expected race pace advantage never materialised, as Leclerc dropped back towards team-mate Carlos Sainz by the end – the Spaniard having been dropped quickly in the early laps.

George Russell was the lead Mercedes in sixth, with Pierre Gasly an impressive seventh for Alpine, while Sergio Perez fought his way up from SQ2 exit to finish eighth and claim the final point.

Lewis Hamilton recovered a few spots from losing badly at the start, while in the other Haas Oliver Bearman also dropped back from running at the end of the top 10 early on.

Photos from Brazilian GP Sprint

Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll will start Brazil’s sprint race from the pitlane after making sweeping changes to their Aston Martin F1 cars.

Alonso and Stroll both struggled for speed in Friday’s sprint qualifying, only managing 16th and 19th respectively.

In response to the result and in a desire to further hone in on their car set-up for the remainder of the weekend, both Aston Martins have undergone changes under parme conditions, which means they have to start from the pitlane.

The FIA document specified that both the bodywork specification and the suspension set-up of Alonso’s and Stroll’s cars have been changed overnight.

Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, who qualified last, has also had his suspension set-up changed and will line up behind the two Astons at pit exit.

Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin AMR24

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Speaking after qualifying, Alonso had already suggested that he would treat the 24-lap sprint as a practice session, calling the race “useless” from his lowly grid position.

“The sprint for us really means nothing, as there are only eight cars scoring points,” the two-time world champion said. “And even if you are eighth or seventh, you score one point or two. So just the format doesn’t reward anything to be fast on Friday night and Saturday.

“For us there’s much more focus on Sunday, so that’s the way we treat the sprint weekends. A little bit useless until Saturday afternoon. And it’s the case on this one as well.”

Alonso explained set-up experiments following Friday’s sole practice session had also been one of the reasons why the Aston Martin team’s qualifying session had been so low-key.

“We didn’t have the pace in qualifying,” he said. “We made some changes also after FP1 that we knew were maybe detrimental to the pace of the car. But we had to keep ourselves focused on Sunday more than Saturday, so for us, the sprint is more a free practice.”

Formula 1 teams have been left facing some difficult strategy choices for the Brazilian Grand Prix as a host of elements have come together to make things extremely complicated.

A combination of the new track surface, the timing of the sprint race, Pirelli’s selections for this weekend and uncertainty over the weather have created a perfect storm where the best route forward is not clear right now.

Of particular concern is the fact that teams cannot be sure which combination of tyres they need to keep back for Sunday’s grand prix, because the picture from the opening day of running has not offered a firm answer about degradation and wear levels.

The newly-resurfaced Interlagos circuit seems to offer some decent grip levels, but degradation levels were far from clear because of the huge fluctuations in track temperature caused by the new black asphalt.

Opening practice took place with the track nudging the mid-50Cs, and that opened the door for the tyres to be punished quite a lot, especially when the appearance of graining also contributed to some excessive wear.

As Williams driver Alex Albon said: “It’s unbelievable degradation here. This track is made out of sandpaper, so it will make it interesting.”

However, things seem more settled down in the late afternoon when sprint qualifying took place, as track temperatures dropped into the 40Cs.

But teams will be aware that Saturday’s sprint takes place at 11am local time on Saturday, when track temps will likely be in the upper region.

So, with Pirelli having selected the most aggressive of its tyre compounds for this weekend, and the soft being pretty much a single lap tyre so not suitable for the sprint duration, that will likely nudge teams to having to use a medium or hard on Saturday.

The difficulty with that though is that teams are very tight on the number of sets that they have left.

After sprint qualifying, all the top teams are in the same boat, in having two new hards available, then one new and two used mediums.

So, with indications pointing towards Sunday’s grand prix being a two-stop race, teams are going to have to choose where the compromise comes from and where they likely run a used medium.

It is not clear yet whether track temperatures and degradation will mean the best strategy on Sunday is to run medium/hard/medium (which was last year’s strategy based on the current tyres being one step softer), or medium/hard/hard.

Both strategies are currently viable and there is only a few seconds of difference between them on paper, although a double medium choice could require more management.

This means if teams burn through one of their new sets of tyres for the sprint, then they will have to run with used mediums in the race.

Pirelli tyres

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Normally, a used set of tyres – the mediums will have done a few laps in a qualifying effort during SQ1 or SQ2 is not such a problem – but it could trigger some downside this time around because Brazil’s race could be a battle against tyre wear rather than keeping temperatures under control.

And the level of wear appears to be much higher than it is in the past because the new track surface is triggering some graining.

Pirelli’s chief engineer Simone Berra said: “We expected this with the new tarmac, with the new surface.

“It’s something that is quite usual, especially on the rear right, but it is also the front right inner half of the tread. And this graining level is affecting the acceleration of the wear in some regions.”

Berra reckoned there was no perfect way forward right now, as at some point teams on Saturday or Sunday were going to have to go with something that was not ideal.

“They have to make the correct choice,” he said. “We know that we were a little bit on the limit in terms of wear life, considering the new asphalt and the new compound selection.

“So, I think it creates a little bit different strategies, because with the new tarmac, the C3 (the current hard) should work quite well, and should have better performance compared to last year, when it was the medium and some teams struggled with.

“The C4 (the current medium) last year was really good, and we’ve seen this year as well that the C4 is not too bad.

“So, teams have to decide if they prefer to keep the two sets of hard compound, but also to keep some good sets, so not much used, mediums just to switch from one strategy to the other.

“Then we know that on Sunday there is a chance of rain, and this can change also the compound selection for the race. You would rather prefer not to use the hard, for example, and use the medium [in the damp] because of the higher grip level in these kind of conditions.

“Everything is very viable at the moment, and I think it’s making the racing interesting.”

Sebastian Vettel has tipped Max Verstappen to beat Lando Norris to the Formula 1 title this year, despite his car not being the fastest.

Verstappen is facing tremendous pressure to hold on to his world championship advantage, with Red Bull having been out developed over the 2024 season by main rivals McLaren and Ferrari.

Although the Dutchman holds a 47-points advantage in the drivers’ standings ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix sprint, he knows that Norris has been chipping away at him since the summer break – and he could lose a lot of ground at Interlagos if McLaren is as quick as it has looked so far.

But despite the relative pace of the Red Bull and the McLaren, former Red Bull driver Vettel thinks that Verstappen is the one that still holds the advantage right now.

He thinks a combination of Verstappen’s driving confidence, plus Norris facing a renewed challenge from Ferrari, could be enough to prove decisive in how the drivers’ battle unfolds.

Speaking to Sky Germany, he said: “As much as I’d like us all to have a really exciting race right to the end, I think Max is now so hardened, so confident in his driving … we rarely see any mistakes from him, from his side.

“Even if his car is perhaps no longer quite as strong as it was at the start of the year, I still see him as the favourite. I think he’s still strong enough to always score enough points. And Lando is no longer in a position where he can win every race so easily.

“So, I would say that the role of favourite is clear – and lies with Max. But of course, as an independent spectator, I also hope that it will be even closer.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

The Norris/Verstappen battle has become more intense in recent races, with the pair having controversial clashes at both the United States and Mexico Grands Prix.

And while Verstappen’s willingness to take things to the edge in his battle with Norris have left some suggesting the British drivers needs to get his elbows out more, McLaren says it does not want its driver to change his approach.

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella, said: “I think Lando is coping with this situation of being in the fight for the championship in a way that we are enjoying, first of all, I would say. He’s now a very mature driver.

“The race craft keeps improving all the time. The attitude, the learning from every situation, which we can appreciate almost on a race-by-race timescale. I think Lando is definitely now a mature driver to succeed in this kind of fight, which is a fight against one of the best drivers, I think, in the history of Formula 1.

“We just keep telling Lando all the time: keep doing what we are doing, let’s keep improving all the time, let’s become the best version of ourselves, race after race.”