1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve has called McLaren out for showing ‘weakness’ in their fight against Max Verstappen. The Canadian racer believed that Andrea Stella’s squad made a mistake in not prioritising Lando Norris over Oscar Piastri on the final safety car restart.
They show weakness,” he told Sky Sports F1. “Basically, they don’t show the strength that Red Bull are always showing year after year. It’s as if they’re afraid to be aggressive in trying to win the Drivers’ Championship, and they’re afraid to go against Piastri. It’s really, really odd.
“Piastri messed up that first corner. He got caught out sleeping. He should never have come out of the corner second, and then he didn’t have the pace, which was odd. Norris had more pace. On the restart, McLaren knew that it was a matter of laps before Norris would have taken Piastri with the tyre difference; it was obvious.
“100 per cent sure he would get ahead, so why make him lose three laps instead of giving him a shot at Verstappen? Because Verstappen is in for the championship. You don’t want to give Verstappen wins. That’s more points for him in the Drivers’ Championship.
“They seem to be happy with second and third. McLaren has a car where a good weekend means first and second. Anything less is a bit disappointing. First and third is fairly acceptable, but they seem happy with second and third.”