The Italian also acknowledged that the soft compound may not have been the best choice, adding: “Coming into the pits a lap later gives you the chance to observe what your competitors are doing, and I think using softs was not the right decision for us.
“In fact, the graininess of the tyres was too much to be able to maintain the position over Verstappen and Lewis. To be fair, Lewis did a great job of making the soft tyres last the whole stint.”
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As for why the medium tyre was not used, Stella said the team wanted to consult with Norris on what his preference was as concerns were that the compound could be difficult to handle on the drying track.
“It wasn’t that complicated actually. Verstappen, on a hard compound, managed the transition to dry tyres without any major problems,” the team boss continued.
“I think this was a decision we should have made, like when we stopped Oscar in the double file. We should have taken responsibility to say: ‘the medium tyre is the right one, let’s go for it’. I think in consultation with Lando we were a bit hesitant, and that led us to go in this direction which, in retrospect, was not the right one.”
However, Stella was keen to stress that the responsibility for such decisions lies with the team and not just the driver.