F1 team accused of 'trying not to win' as Japanese Grand Prix decision slammed

have been accused of 'trying not to win' the Japanese Grand Prix by outspoken Sky Sports pundit Jacques Villeneuve. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished second and third, respectively, but showed little sign of properly challenging race leader Max Verstappen.

The Suzuka International track offers very few opportunities to overtake. It meant that Verstappen, Norris and Piastri finished the race in the exact same positions they started. Despite securing two of the poll positions, McLaren's strategy left former driver Villeneuve disappointed. The Canadian wondered why neither Norris nor Piastri took more of a risk by adopting a different strategy to attempt an overtake on Verstappen.

Villeneuve, who referenced a bemusing double McLaren pit stop on the same lap, 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!

"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?'"

Norris claimed McLaren tried a few different things in a bid to win the race. The British star, who still leads the Drivers' Championship leaderboard, was also confused by being asked to stop just moments after Piastri had left the pit stop.

"We tried some things," Norris said. "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."

Verstappen's victory was his first of the season. The Red Bull driver says he did not expect to win and argued that McLaren's car remains faster. "Before the weekend I didn't expect I could win," Verstappen said. "Especially not after Friday, but the most important thing was that we started from pole position.

"McLaren is just faster, only they couldn't get into the DRS to take action. They were trying to manage their tyres because you couldn't really overtake anyone on lap two either.

"You just kind of create a gap, then at the end of the stint you saw that they were getting closer again. Then they tried to attack because my tyres were getting a little too hot. It helped that it was a bit colder. Your tyres overheat a little less then. That remains a problem for us."