McLaren’s car became “more difficult to drive” in qualifying

McLaren team principal Andrea Stella explained why their drivers were unable to replicate their strong performance from the sprint race qualifying session.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri qualified first and third respectively for the weekend’s opening race. However the pair will share the second row of the grid for the grand prix after being out-qualified by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell.

“It was a more complicated session for us in terms of qualifying pace compared to yesterday,” Stella admitted. “Today the conditions were slightly different,” he told the official Formula 1 channel.

“It may look [like] small things,” he explained. “It is still windy and gusty compared to how it was yesterday in the sprint quali [when the wind dropped]. This meant that our car was more difficult to drive than yesterday.

“Yesterday, as soon as the wind calmed down, the car became very predictable and our drivers could really attack. Today I have to say it was more about almost defending and trying to be cautious because any time we were attacking for ultimate pace, we were having problems.”

McLaren’s drivers began their final runs on the back foot after poor opening runs in Q3. Norris backed out of one lap after suffering a snap of oversteer and running through the gravel strip between turns four and five.

“Lando and Oscar have done a good job in securing a P3, P4,” said Stella, “at some stage in Q3 it was like P7, P10. We got a little nervous, but they stayed calm and they delivered when it counted.”

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Although McLaren were widely tipped to be the team to beat at Losail International Circuit, Stella said he wasn’t surprised cars from two different teams out-qualified them.

“Russell, he was on course for pole position already yesterday, so it’s not a surprise,” he said. “The other car ahead of us is Max Verstappen, and I think I said it all, when it’s Max you can never discount him.

“So it’s a good result, a good starting position for tomorrow. Tomorrow will be very much about race pace and that’s where we have to be good.

“The sprint has been promising, but even the sprint has been quite compact [in terms of gaps between cars]. So I think once again for the spectators and the F1 fans, it’s going to be an entertaining evening.”