McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has explained the thinking behind the team's decision not to pit either of their drivers under the Safety Car during the Qatar Grand Prix.

It proved a costly mistake, as McLaren lost to Red Bull's Max Verstappen in a race that had appeared set to be theirs, when they kept their cars out on track after the Safety Car was deployed on lap seven.

Stella said afterwards that avoiding Lando Norris having to double stack in the pit lane behind team-mate and Qatar pole-sitter Piastri was a "consideration" in the decision, but "wasn't the main reason".

Red Bull did pit Verstappen, who was running second between the McLaren drivers at the time, with the Dutchman followed in to the pit lane by 16 other drivers.

Verstappen was right behind Piastri and Norris in the queue when the race resumed on lap 11.

With the Dutchman having completed one of his two pit stops for the race effectively mandated by the 25-lap tyre limits imposed as a special measure for this weekend's Qatar event, McLaren's drivers still needed to pit twice. It meant they needed to build sufficient gaps on their Red Bull rival either side of their stops to beat him.

But it did not work out that way with a frustrated Piastri finishing second, eight seconds behind Verstappen, and Norris fourth behind Williams' Carlos Sainz. It leaves Norris just 12 points ahead of Verstappen heading into this weekend's Abu Dhabi title decider, with Piastri a further four points adrift.

Explaining their thinking behind the costly decision, Stella said: "Effectively we have conceded one pit stop to a rival that was fast today so obviously we did it for a reason.

"The reason was that we didn't want to end up in traffic after the pit stop but obviously all the other cars and teams had a different opinion in relation to a safety car at lap seven.

"Everyone pitted and this made our staying out ultimately being incorrect from a race outcome point of view, and because Verstappen was fast and also because the tyre degradation was low ultimately this decision was significantly penalising because clearly Oscar was in control of the race and deserved to win it."

The McLaren chief added: "It was a decision. As a matter of fact it wasn't the correct decision."

Piastri was leading Verstappen by 2.6 seconds and Norris by 4.4 seconds on lap seven when Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg spun into the gravel at Turn One after a collision battling over ninth place with Pierre Gasly, with the stranded Sauber and debris triggering the Safety Car's deployment.

Norris in turn was 1.7s ahead of fourth-placed Kimi Antonelli and a further two seconds ahead of Williams' Carlos Sainz.

Stella added: "Certainly for Lando there was the extra consideration of losing additional time because of the double-stacked pit stop, so it was in the consideration.

"But it wasn't the main reason not to stop both cars.

"We thought that traffic could have been a problem for both cars and, in reality, that was not the right interpretation of the situation at the time, that we should have had."

McLaren have gone to great lengths this year to ensure fairness between their two drivers in their respective quests to become world champion for the first time.

The team's 'papaya rules' provide the framework for how they operate evenly-handily on track but their strategy miscue in Qatar prompted debate whether, on this occasion, they compromised the team's decision making with the possibility that a stop for Norris immediately after his team-mate could have cost him positions in the order.

Sky Sports F1's Bernie Collins:

"Piastri had a three-second gap to Verstappen. With that advantage, I don't understand for Oscar Piastri, if it was a standalone car, why you wouldn't pit.

"For Lando Norris, it's a little more difficult. He has to stack with his team-mate, open a gap, how many positions will he lose?

"If you ask about papaya rules, hesitation in stacking Norris and holding him back from potentially achieving everything he could, has hurt.

"Only McLaren internally know the real answer to that. They have a lot to go through."

Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle:

"I don't think papaya rules cost McLaren. I think they just read it wrong.

"They thought they would get a Safety Car opportunity later on, they wanted that flexibility.

"Pretty much everybody else doubled stacked. Andrea made a point that he thought half the field would stay out, because were right on the cusp - lap seven was the first point where pitting made sense.

"They misunderstood it all and got it wrong. It would have hurt Lando Norris stacking. Who knows whether they could have fed them out?

"I don't think that was on their mind. I think they thought they were doing the right thing strategically for the race to keep that flexibility later on.

"But the tyres didn't fall apart and Max Verstappen was plenty fast enough."

Lando Norris:

"It's nothing to do with that. Everyone keeps thinking that, but it's got nothing to do with that. We're free to race.

"Red Bull were just as quick today as they were yesterday. They did a better job as a team and made the right call. That's it.

"We'll review things, see what we could have done better. We already know - we didn't make the right decision. You can't get them all right, you know."

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