Lando Norris left confused by McLaren decision as Brit questions team at Japanese GP

revealed that he was confused by 's decision to pit him at the same time as race leader during the , ensuring that the Dutchman retained the race's lead after the only round of stops. Norris looked set for pole position on Saturday before Verstappen produced a sensational lap to secure his first P1 start of the campaign.

The four-time world champion held the lead when the lights went out and controlled the pace out front with Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri in close quarters behind. Despite having a minor pace advantage, Norris couldn't get closer than 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen, so when Piastri came in for his stop on lap 21, most onlookers expected McLaren to split the strategy and box their lead driver opposite the Red Bull man.

Instead, when the Dutchman reacted on the following lap, Norris followed him in, and despite a small mistake from the Red Bull pit crew, Verstappen retained the lead. From there, the 27-year-old kept his title rival outside of DRS range until the finish, sealing his first win of the campaign and moving one point behind the championship leader.

Discussing McLaren's strategy call, Norris said: "Maybe we could have tried a bit more with strategy and overcut or undercut. We just boxed on the same lap for some reason, so there are some things we'll discuss. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

"I probably should have just tried to undercut. The thing is, there's always the safety car risk. I don't think I could have gone longer because then I think I would have lost a position, so that wasn't on the cards. But yeah, I think we probably should have just tried to undercut and tried something different."

The McLaren strategy debate divided opinion in the paddock. While the decision ultimately handed Verstappen a get-out-of-jail-free card, Andrea Stella's squad didn't have many tricks up their sleeves, given the weak performance of the undercut throughout the Grand Prix.

"I think pitting Lando would have meant that we could not have pitted Oscar, and this would have been a problem for Oscar," Stella explained. "Oscar would have waited [another lap], which I think would have been a problem with the cars, especially [George] Russell, that pitted and that we needed to cover.

"We will review the gaps to understand whether there was a possibility to go for an undercut with Lando that could actually be executed on Max. But we shouldn't forget, though, that by giving up track position, you also expose the car that you pit to safety car risk, for instance.

"Like Lando would have lost positions in a safety car should a safety car be deployed. In hindsight, you don't see any safety car, you don't see anything, and you think 'Oh yeah, I might have gone for the undercut', but an undercut attempt comes with some risks."