Karun Chandhok openly questions McLaren’s controversial strategy decision regarding Oscar Piastri during the Austrian Grand Prix, suggesting the team’s move was more about maintaining internal harmony than securing a competitive advantage, leaving fans and experts wondering what really happened behind the scenes.
McLaren walked away from the Austrian Grand Prix with their fourth one-two finish of the season.
Lando Norris won from Oscar Piastri after dominating Sunday’s race from start to finish.
The British driver stormed to pole position, and even though Piastri cleared Charles Leclerc at the first corner, he held off the drivers’ championship leader brilliantly.
McLaren chiefs Andrea Stella and Zak Brown would have had their hearts in their mouths watching their two drivers fight.
Piastri stayed in Norris’ DRS for the entirety of the first stint but only made two clear moves to try and overtake him.
The Australian made his move going into turn three, only for Norris to immediately overtake him again.
Piastri was then told to avoid any ‘marginal’ moves on his teammate after locking up into turn four when he made his final desperate move to take the lead.
Norris admitted racing Piastri was tough, but ultimately he held onto the lead relatively comfortably after the first round of pit stops.
Karun Chandhok thinks he spotted one call McLaren made in Piastri’s strategy that would have been very different if they were competing against another team at the Austrian Grand Prix.
Photo by James Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
McLaren’s first Oscar Piastri pit stop at the Austrian Grand Prix questioned by Karun Chandhok
Chandhok was commentating for Sky Sports F1 (29/6 2:45 pm) and after Norris pitted to change his tyres for the first time, they watched Piastri stay out.
The former HRT driver explained: “I wonder Bernie [Collins], just to keep the peace, looking at Norris’ slower pit stop, whether they didn’t want to run the risk of Oscar overcutting him.
“If he’s on another team, you would snatch that opportunity of the other driver having a slow stop.”
Piastri’s engineer then came on the team radio and asked Piastri, “Quick question, better to be four seconds behind Lando with more delta, or one and a half behind?”
The Australian replied, “With delta,” justifying his later pit stop.
Chandhok continued: “Ok, so they’re extending. What they’re trying to say there to Oscar is, would you like to keep going more and more and more, in which case, Lando, by pitting earlier with his fresh set of hard tyres, is going to eventually have a bigger gap to you.
“They’ve given him the option, and he’s come back with, OK, I want to keep going on these tyres, even if I come out four seconds behind, I will then have fresher tyres to come back at him.”
Oscar Piastri warned by Andrea Stella after recent Lando Norris incident
Since McLaren became a dominant force in Formula 1, fans have been denied regular battles between Norris and Piastri.
The youngster caught Norris off-guard at last year’s Italian Grand Prix with a bold move that ultimately cost both drivers victory.
Piastri was told to give Norris space at the opening race in Australia, highlighting the fact that the pair have to be cautious when a result isn’t secured.
The previous race in Canada saw the pair finally collide, with Norris running into the back of his teammate.
Stella might not have been happy with Piastri’s defending in Canada, according to Ted Kravitz, although it’s hard to tell the championship leader to give his closest rival more space.
There are plenty of races left, and the gap between Piastri and Norris in the championship is only 15 points.
It’s likely that further clashes are on the cards, and McLaren’s chiefs will have to hope that they don’t end up taking each other out at any point this season.
