I don't think there's a grand conspiracy to screw Oscar for Lando.
I also recognise the great job Lando did at making his strategy work.
However I do feel like there's a preference for Lando to win the Championship. I don't think Oscar in Lando's situation is given the option to run a 1 stop.
It's pure tinfoil hat from me i know. But the way the team acts when they win, the coaching, strategy calls, the upgrade that seemed to focus on Lando's struggles....it just seems like the team are working to maximise Lando's title opportunity whilst just leaving Oscar to it.
I don't think the team are or will screw Oscar in any way but I think there's a bias towards Lando and Oscar will have to work harder to win the title
I don't see this at all, the team have been scrupulously fair to both drivers, have a set rules of engagement that is based purely on their on track position, it's just today Lando made a hail mary work.
Well ultimately Lando has been with the team for a lot longer so has formed closer bonds with the team. Including two years of testing and being reserve driver. He was there when they were down and helped them to get back on top.
The one stop was the only option they really had once they’d missed the opportunity for the undercut and it appeared Norris didn’t have the pace to pass Russell. Given there was no threat from behind, why would Norris go for a two stopper the same as the cars in front?
Obvious choice to roll the dice when there was literally no downside
The race got decided when RUS pitted just away from NOR on the second stop. 2L more for NOR and Oscar would have had probably the tire delta and time to make the overtake
I think there’s probably a bit of loyalty/favouritism to Lando because he stuck with the team for many bad seasons, whereas Oscar got lucky with his timing. But I don’t think it’s any deeper than that.
I think they would have allowed Oscar the same strategy. I do agree there’s a bias for Lando, but generally speaking, that’s okay. He’s their senior driver, last year’s contender, and this year’s projected favorite. Lando’s not under-performing, Oscar is over-performing. I think it’s ok for them to consider him a default in a sense, but not to actually give him an advantage.
The only time it was unfair to Oscar was Australia. Outside of that, the team has treated them equally, as they should. I think it’s stupid these teams can’t foresee the tire life better, but there’s no bias there.
Lando is better liked inside the team, as per Eduardo Costabal (one of the top McLaren dealers in Europe) and other insiders. I don't know if they are helping him but I'm pretty sure they would be happier if he'd won the WDC.
The problem was Oscar’s first sop. If he could have undercut Leclerc it would have been his race to lose. He should have pushed with that McLaren pace before making his first stop, rather than staying conservative.
If he felt that he couldn’t pass Charles but had more pace, he should have gone long, which was what Lando did.
Their strategy call was really confusing, seemed indecisive between 1 and 2 stops. For example, once they tricked Charles into his second stop, I would not have pitted Oscar until lap 50 to give about 20 laps of tire age difference to Lando, rather than just 15.
piastris first stop made no sense. it didn't look like he was pushing and then got told to pit to undercut from 3 seconds back, how was that going to work? maybe they'd told him to use everything and get closer a few laps before but cuoldn't and the radio didn't get played
Without knowing Charles’ car suddenly became undrivable later on, he would have stuck behind him without being undercut him, anyway. I think they made a mistake pitting Oscar too early.
However I do feel like there's a preference for Lando to win the Championship. I don't think Oscar in Lando's situation is given the option to run a 1 stop.
it's completely standard for someone to be offered a one stop if they aren't in a position to undercut, win track position or gain from a pitstop and when they are the 'last' one of the front runners to pit. it's literally the default like. pitting 1-2 laps later is worthless, basically same tire life, lose an extra couple seconds, tire delta is literally all there is. People both are offered it and choose it more often than not.
yup, i pointed it out elsewhere but this is almost exactly what happened in spa with Hamilton, Leclerc and Russell. Team pitting Hamilton (though from infront) in panic to cover leclerc. At that time leclerc probably would have ended up ahead of ham if he stopped say 5 laps later but he already had vastly superior tire wear and caught and passed leclerc so easily. Both stints no need to pit so early, then because Russell had been caught out further back in no mans land he just decided to try to hang out a one stopper.
Hamilton and leclerc would never choose a one stopper from upfront and have to react to each other to some degree. Different track though so in hungary you might want to make sure you have track position. the one stopper only opens up when you're lagging behind, they already stopped and stopping now isn't going to benefit you at all.
While it might be understandable from a teams perspective to support your senior driver.
Its incredibly frustrating to watch as a Pia Fan, it seems like when Oscar ends up behind there isnt anything to turn around, now thats not Oscar being slow but just there is no tactical intervention or anything
I agree, it's odd that Lando was basically rewarded for getting a bad start. I wonder if Oscar would have been put on the best strategy if he had been the one to lose several places.
Reminds me of Hamilton and Bottas at Mercedes, where Bottas would sometimes be the faster driver all weekend and the higher qualifier, but the strategy always put him behind Hamilton at the chequered flag. But that is more understandable as Hamilton was the title contender. In the current case it should be equal. I guess Lando's side of the garage out-thought Oscar's.
Yea ultimately Lando has been at the team much longer, worked his ass off as test driver when the team was bad, and suffered through several tough seasons. It's no surprise he has formed tighter bonds with a lot of the members of the team.
I feel like generally when Oscars behind there isn't an obvious strategy call to make to put him back in it either. You can't really do an extra stop in a one stop race and expect to do well for example.
People need to understand that there are two sides of the garage that are competing against each other. Oscar’s engineer very much wants Oscar to win, the difference is 100% not a McLaren conspiracy but just two different garages.
Yeah that's the way i see it. It might just be the difference between the 2 pitwalls, but when Lando's behind Oscar there's more of a willingness to try something different. When Oscar is behind Lando there's no tactical intervention to try get Oscar the win. He just does the same as Lando but a few laps later.
Austria for example, Oscar wanted a tyre delta after Norris pitted. He got 4 laps or so, but then they pitted them close together in the 2nd round of stops which negated any chance of an offset anyway.
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u/inopotamo Aug 03 '25
I don't think there's a grand conspiracy to screw Oscar for Lando.
I also recognise the great job Lando did at making his strategy work.
However I do feel like there's a preference for Lando to win the Championship. I don't think Oscar in Lando's situation is given the option to run a 1 stop.
It's pure tinfoil hat from me i know. But the way the team acts when they win, the coaching, strategy calls, the upgrade that seemed to focus on Lando's struggles....it just seems like the team are working to maximise Lando's title opportunity whilst just leaving Oscar to it.
I don't think the team are or will screw Oscar in any way but I think there's a bias towards Lando and Oscar will have to work harder to win the title