McLaren continued its impressive form with another dominant 1-2 finish at the 2025 F1 Spanish GP. Oscar Piastri led from pole to take his fifth victory of the season, while Lando Norris completed the podium lockout for the Woking-based team. However, beneath the surface of the triumph lay moments of risk, subtle intra-team tension, and strategic mastery — all of which Team Principal Andrea Stella openly addressed following the 2025 F1 Spanish GP race weekend.
Calculated risks and tactical execution
Although McLaren appeared in control from lights out to chequered flag, Andrea Stella revealed the team had taken a calculated gamble by sticking to a two-stop strategy. This approach, while ultimately successful, was not without its moments of uncertainty — particularly when Max Verstappen opted for an aggressive three-stop plan.
“In the second stint, we were pushing, controlling the pace and he [Verstappen] was catching up very rapidly, more rapidly than we hoped for,” Stella admitted. “So, at some stage we even asked our drivers like, ‘We should push more,’ and both gave answers like, ‘I am not sure I have much more pace than this.’ So, at that stage we were a little worried that it could have been a situation more open than we thought it would be in the first stint.”
Further complicating matters was the proximity between Piastri and Norris, who were separated by approximately 2.5 seconds during the second stint. This narrow margin introduced the possibility of strategic entanglement had Verstappen’s pace become more threatening. However, Stella noted that fortune turned in their favour when the Red Bull driver began to fade.
“At some stage it would have also been tricky for us because we had Oscar and Lando that were like 2.5 seconds apart or something. So, if we needed to cover Verstappen it would have been a bit of a problem with them. But thankfully Verstappen started to tail off a bit.”
“Oscar found quite a lot of pace at the end of the second stint and this allowed us to go through the pit stop sequence in a controlled way. So, I think well done to the drivers from this respect, but well done to our tyre engineers, and overall, I think this was a good execution of today’s race.”
Two-stop versus three-stop strategy
Stella elaborated on the performance dynamics between the strategies used at the 2025 F1 Spanish GP. While he maintained that the two-stop option was faster overall, he acknowledged that it demanded more careful tyre management and posed a higher risk of degradation.
“I think a two-stop is faster,” he explained. “It comes with some risks in relation to the fact that when you have such a fast three-stopper, you need to push on a two-stop, so you need to push on long stints, and sometimes it is a little unpredictable how much your tyres will go off.”
“If you look at the race trace, if you look at the times at the start of the stint, we were very careful not to push too much at the start of the stint, because if you push too much at the start of the stint, then you’re going to have some degradation at the end.”
He pointed to Verstappen’s performance in the latter stages as a cautionary tale. “Ultimately it is what happened with Verstappen I think, in what will have been his second or third stint, maybe the third, he pushed so much but then at some stage it tailed off.”
Using a vivid analogy, Stella compared tyre management to budget allocation. “It is a limited budget, you have to just decide where you use it, but on a two-stop you are much more exposed if your tyres go off, then you have to stay on it – and it is quite brutal when they go off.”
Piastri’s evolution and tyre tactics
While Norris briefly found himself behind Verstappen early in the race — costing valuable tyre performance — Piastri remained clear and consistent at the front. Stella addressed how being in dirty air can accelerate tyre wear, something Norris experienced firsthand.
“Yes, you do have to use your tyres more [when behind another car], because you are following, and when you are following, aerodynamics reduces, so you have to extract from the tyres what you lose from an aerodynamic point of view which could be easily like half a second that you extract more from the tyres, so I think, yes, more tyre consumption for Lando in the first stint [of the Spanish GP].”
Nevertheless, Stella praised both drivers for their maturity and consistency across the race. He particularly highlighted Piastri’s development since his struggles in Spain the previous year.
“But overall, I have to say that the two drivers today were, in a way, quite surprisingly, pretty much going in parallel throughout the entire race. I think Oscar has done a really impressive job considering that last year this was one of the most difficult races for him, so he has gone really a long way forward in 12 months.”
A “cheeky” tow and internal dynamics
The team harmony displayed on race day was briefly tested during Qualifying. Piastri appeared to have provisional pole in Q3 until Norris benefited from a slipstream — or tow — from his team mate in the final corner. Although Piastri reclaimed pole on the final runs, his reaction over the radio was telling: “Cheeky.”
After the 2025 F1 Spanish GP, Stella, however, downplayed any suggestion of internal friction. He framed the moment as a communication oversight rather than a point of contention between the drivers.
“It was a minor situation,” he said. “We always tell our drivers like, ‘Do not leave anything in the back of your mind, anything, throw it out, say what you think’. In this case I think that Oscar’s comment was to highlight a situation that we did not discuss before.”
“In itself it is not anything too controversial, but we sort of did not discuss that before and we do not want to surprise our drivers with situations that we did not discuss before, so a little bit to take on for the team rather than for the drivers.”
He added, “We have to do some homework and be ready even more for the coming races, which surely will be interesting.”
Looking ahead with caution and confidence
As the championship battle tightens, Stella acknowledged the increasing stakes for both drivers. Nevertheless, he affirmed that McLaren’s internal dynamics remain strong, crediting Norris and Piastri for their professionalism.
“The briefing is not getting like tougher,” he remarked. “The conversations are the same that we always have. Obviously when the two drivers start one next to each other and there is 800 metres to corner one, you might have to reiterate every detail of the way we go racing together but so far I just can only be very grateful to Lando and Oscar, who have approached this internal competition with a great sense of responsibility and pretty much sticking to the letter to what are our racing principles and approach.”
