Villeneuve slams McLaren strategy: 'Trying not to win'

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Jacques Villeneuve tore into McLaren's tame strategy at the Japanese Grand Prix, going as far as to say they were "trying not to win".

McLaren, despite having the fastest car on the 2025 grid with the MCL39, were unable to claim pole position during Qualifying on Saturday.

Instead, it was the Red Bull of Max Verstappen who pipped Lando Norris to the top spot by just 0.012 seconds on his fastest lap.

The Suzuka International Racing Course proved particularly difficult to overtake on, with very few overtakes witnessed during the 53-lap Grand Prix.

This was the case for the top three, who remained in their starting grid positions at the finish line with Verstappen, Norris and Oscar Piastri in first, second and third respectively.

Cannot Just Be On The Defensive

This raised the question: why didn't at least one of the McLaren drivers attempt an alternative strategy to try and get past Verstappen?

Starting on the hard tyre or extending the initial medium tyre stint were discussed post-race as potential strategies that may have helped McLaren claim victory.

Sky Sports F1 pundit Jacques Villeneuve was disappointed that McLaren didn't try something different in terms of strategy. He said: "Why would you stop Norris, when your team-mate has already stopped?

"Why won’t you take a gamble? You have two drivers out there!" exclaimed Villeneuve after the race.

"It’s as if they’re trying to not win. You need a winning attitude when you want to win. You need to want to win. You cannot just be on the defensive.

"Panicking, being afraid of 'are you doing what might be right?'," added the Canadian former Formula 1 driver.

'We Suffered A Lot Today'

Norris said that he would question McLaren’s strategists on the decision to pit on the same lap as Verstappen and forego an overcut opportunity — a move that effectively sealed his fate to finish second.

“We tried some things,” he continued. “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 some things we’ll discuss, but good points for us as a team.

“Decent points for me, of course, would have liked a little bit more, but have to take seconds sometimes.”

Overall, the Briton who still holds the Drivers' Championship lead by one point ahead of Verstappen, believes that he never had the pace to beat the Red Bull driver, no matter the strategy.

"I felt at times we were quicker but it was not enough. We just didn't have enough of an advantage. Nothing to complain about but things we need to improve with the car as we suffered a lot today.