Ralf Schumacher Exposes Issues in McLaren’s Chain of Command After Qatar GP disaster

Ralf Schumacher claimed that there was some issues within the McLaren Chain of Command that cost them the Qatar GP.

Ralf Schumacher Exposes Issues in McLaren’s Chain of Command After Qatar GP disaster

Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull), Ralf Schumacher (via Getty)

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McLaren has suffered from a woeful outing in the past couple of weekends despite dominating the entire 2025 season. The team is making major blunders at a very crucial point in both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri‘s championship ambitions.

Woking’s recent failure in the Qatar GP has allowed Max Verstappen to be just 12 points adrift of the lead to Norris. As such, ex-F1 driver Ralf Schumacher ponders over the internal problems at the Papaya Squad following their recent failure.

Oscar Piastri was on par to achieve a Qatar GP sweep following his positive performances since the beginning of the race weekend. However, the team decided to go with an interesting strategy call that cost Piastri the race win against Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Lando Norris was unable to achieve even a podium finish and strengthen his championship-winning chances.

McLaren refused to comment right after the Qatar GP, but they did deliver a statement after some time. Now, guessing the reasons behind the failed pit stop call, Ralf Schumacher predicts that there must be some issue within the chain of command. Schumacher reckoned that someone had to take full responsibility for being too ambitious with the decision not to pit under the safety car.

Ralf Schumacher continued that the whole team relied on one person to take the call, and they couldn’t second-guess themselves in the heat of the moment. The team missed their chance to win after they missed the one and only opportunity to pit during the race. As such, the German declared that McLaren must really discuss this matter at length and get to the bottom of it.

I think something went wrong in the chain of command, There has to be one person who takes responsibility. And I suspect – I don’t want to say it too loudly – but there’s someone there who’s extremely ambitious. And in a situation like that, you have to trust the person making the call. If you try to make the call yourself, it’s already over. And once the first moment passed, the second one slipped by as well. It all happened too fast. I think that’s exactly why they missed it. They really need to address this.

Ralf Schumacher told Sky Sports Germany.

Ralf Schumacher reveals the ‘harder challenge’ for McLaren at Abu Dhabi GP

As the championship standings currently are, Oscar Piastri has little to no chance to win the 2025 driver’s title against Lando Norris and Max Verstappen. Meanwhile, Norris can lose the battle if he finishes P4 or below at the upcoming Abu Dhabi GP. Now, Piastri, who refused to play the second fiddle anymore, must come in as the savior for the Briton and help him in his campaign.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (via IMAGO)

Ralf Schumacher believes that the much bigger task now is to convince Oscar Piastri to help Lando Norris in his championship ambitions. McLaren cost the Aussie the race win and potentially the title win, and he was now too far out of reach for the title. As such, the harder challenge for the team was to convince both drivers to play the team game and achieve results in the best interest of the team.

I think the much bigger task now is convincing Piastri — because they cost him that win — that he’s still too far out of reach, and Max is coming. That now plays into Norris’s hands. That, I think, will be the harder challenge.

Ralf Schumacher added.

The 2025 season has certainly been full of ups and downs for McLaren. The team started out as the best team on grid, but has committed crucial mistakes. Now, Woking must make up for all the points lost throughout the season and perform when it matters the most.

Read More: Lando Norris Blames Qatar GP Pitstop “Gamble” After Disappointing Loss to Max Verstappen