Max Verstappen does not believe McLaren’s policy of treating its drivers equally was the cause of their costly decision not to pit during a Safety Car period in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix.

McLaren was the only team to leave both its drivers on the track when the race was neutralised on lap seven yesterday. The rest leapt at the opportunity to make their first of two required pit stops while reducing the amount of time they lost.

Verstappen was running second between the two McLarens before the Safety Car came out. He realised his chances of winning the race had improved when the two MCL39s stayed out.

“Initially when I boxed I had to remember that it was lap seven and then I knew okay, now we can drive ’til the end,” he told Viaplay. “And when I knew that they already then also got caught by the Safety Car, I knew that it’s going to be tough for them to make up that kind of time, because it’s a long pit lane as well.”

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McLaren’s decision meant both drivers had to make both their pit stops under green-flag running, costing them more time to Verstappen. Oscar Piastri lost a likely victory as a result, finishing second to the Red Bull driver, while Lando Norris came in fourth behind Carlos Sainz Jnr.

Despite McLaren’s mistake both its drivers will go into the final race of the season this weekend with a chance of winning the world championship, as will Verstappen. McLaren have said throughout the season they will try to give an equal opportunity to both drivers to win the title.

This has led the team to make contentious decisions at times, notably at Monza where they told Oscar Piastri to let Lando Norris past. However Verstappen does not believe their policy was a factor in their race-losing error.

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“I think today was not about treating equally, it was just a mistake of not boxing both of them,” he said. “Then, by making the right call, you win the race.”

“We won it on the strategy call and not, of course, on pure pace,” he added. “But that, of course, we take. It doesn’t matter how you win it, as long as you win, and that’s what we did today.

“We just managed our stints really well and the pace was decent. Of course we’re still limited with the same issues as yesterday in qualifying, but the gap was luckily big enough to manage all that.”

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