Even with the undercut Norris doubts he'd have won: 'Max had buffer to me'

Lando Norris thinks the undercut might have been the game changer he and McLaren needed in Japan today, although he ultimately doubts if that would have been enough to pip Max Verstappen to the flag in Japan.

In terms of strategy, Norris would have liked McLaren to try a different strategy to the one the Woking-based team ended up going for in Japan, Norris said at the FIA post race press conference.

"I probably should have just tried to undercut, I think. Thing is there's always safety car risk and so forth." An overcut was not a good option either thinks the Briton. "I don't think I could have gone longer, because I think I would have lost position, so that wasn't on the cards."

"I think we probably should have just tried to undercut and then tried something different, But it just wasn't [to be] today."

Something to talk about with McLaren's top brass, says Norris, who then questioned if the undercut might have even worked out at all.

"Things [strategy calls] we'll talk about [with the team]. Honestly, I think the undercut is not easy here because the hards are not mega in the first sector.

Even with a different strategy, Verstappen was just out of his league in Japan today, Norris concludes. "Whether that [an undercut] even would have worked, I'm unsure, and Max still always had a little buffer to me. Even if I did have a good outlap, I don't think it was enough to probably have passed anyway."

Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner commented on McLaren's strategies as well, noting that the Woking-based team tried to 'dummy them', unsuccessfully, and after pitting Oscar Piastri, their next move was revealed for the Red Bull pitwall. Read more

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