F1 Presenter Attacks McLaren For Monza Situation - 'You Have To Be Sensible, You Have To Be Smart'

Saajan Jogia | Sep 3, 2024

Carlos Sainz of Spain driving (55) the Ferrari SF-23 and Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB19 lead the field into turn one at the start during the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on September 03, 2023 in Monza, Italy. / Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Formula 1 presenter Will Buxton criticized McLaren for its handling of the situation between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, particularly the lack of team orders during the Italian Grand Prix that resulted in them finishing second and third, respectively. Buxton urged the team to be more "sensible" and "smart," stressing the importance of capitalizing on every opportunity to close the championship gap to Red Bull.

Buxton pointed to Piastri's aggressive first-lap maneuver against Norris, which allowed Charles Leclerc to slip between the two MCL38s. The ensuing battle between the McLarens, combined with Ferrari's one-stop strategy against McLaren's two-stop decision, ultimately paved the way for Leclerc's victory, despite McLaren securing a front-row lockout in qualifying.

With Norris closing in on leading driver Max Verstappen in the Drivers' Standings, with a current gap of 62 points, a mid-race position swap to hand second place to the British driver could have helped reduce the gap further.

Buxton expressed frustration with the lack of urgency, as every point counts. With eight races remaining for the end of the 2024 season, it could be a tight battle to the end between Norris and Verstappen. He said on F1 TV, as reported by PlanetF1.com:

“It just doesn’t make sense to me that you allow your drivers to fight.

“Did Oscar pull off one of the moves of the season? 100 per cent. My word, that was a gutsy, brilliantly executed move. But how are McLaren allowing their drivers to be in a situation where they’re fighting each other?

“If you’ve got a one-two in the race, you’re protecting that one-two because you’re looking at the Constructors’ points that you want to bring in, and you then have to decide which of your drivers is more likely to win the World Championship with nine races to go.

“They have the fastest car. Red Bull were on the back foot this weekend, were not looking strong for a podium, and as it turned out, didn’t even get a top five finish today.

“How are you not prioritising the guy who’s going to make the most out of this? How do you not even swap them on the last lap just to get a couple more points? Because you’re not talking about giving away victory at this point, it’s a second place.

“Does it matter in the overall scheme of things? No, you’re still bringing home the same number of points for McLaren. And this has nothing to do with my nationality, being British, I just want to see a championship fight.

“I don’t understand what McLaren are doing. I genuinely don’t, and I haven’t now for months, because none of it makes sense."

Buxton then goes on to talk about Piastri's contract, explaining why McLaren could be hesitant in pitching him as the number two driver. He added:

“The only thing that makes sense is that Oscar’s contract, maybe somewhere in it says that he has to have number one, and this is why Zak [Brown] keeps on saying ‘we’ve got two number one drivers.’

“Mark Webber’s his manager, and Mark, very famously, didn’t like having the number two status at Red Bull. Maybe there’s something in the contract that says they have to be on equal footing all the time. But surely, then there’d be a caveat in there that says, ‘Listen, unless we’re in a championship position’, but you can’t wait until it’s mathematically impossible for Oscar to win the championship.

“You have to be sensible. You have to be smart, and they’re not being smart.

“It baffles me, because they’re going to throw it away – and you don’t get these chances every year. You don’t know when your next opportunity is going to come around, and they’re going to throw it away, and they’ll deserve to at the moment, because they’re just not playing it smart.

“And with Ferrari on the pace that they had today, being close in the Constructors’ as well, there’s no guarantee McLaren are going to walk away [winning].

“They’ve got to be smarter, and we’ve been saying this for months. I don’t know how many more times we can keep saying it, because you can see for Lando, he was driving angry.

“The mistakes he was making, overdriving the car, hitting the bollard on the way into the pits. That’s a guy there who thinks he’s been done over at the start of the race and thinking, ‘Why has this happened? How has this happened?’ You know, they’re going to throw it all away.”

McLaren trails leading outfit Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship by eight points.

"They're going to throw it away"
McLaren is just straight up a disapointment, Lando gave up his win for Oscar after being guilt tripped, saying he was gonna need the team and now where tf is the team when he needs it?? Will Buxton just said what we all wanted pic.twitter.com/1oApGXKG1G

— Belli🦋 (@TheIzziWay) September 1, 2024