McLaren Racing had a great qualifying session for the final race of the 2023 Formula One season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the Yas Marina circuit.
Oscar Piastri had a great qualifying and starts the race from third place with a time of 01:23.782s.
Speaking following the action he said:
“It was a difficult session. It’s been extremely tight this weekend. The pace was there, I just made a small mistake, but it would’ve had to have been quite a last corner to get on the front row. Overall, I’m happy with today, the car is very quick this weekend. It’s a nice turnaround from Vegas for the team and I’m happy to be back in the top three.
“I’m not sure how our race pace will be, but we’ll look into the data this evening. For everyone, it’s probably going to be the same story. I think the most anyone’s done is five laps in a row this weekend so tomorrow is going to be interesting. We’ll work hard to secure positive points to finish the season strong.”
Lando Norris starts the race from fifth place with a time of 01:23.816s and speaking following the action he said:
A disappointing qualifying in the end for me. I don’t know if I should have been P1, but I definitely feel like I should be starting at least P2. The pace has been very strong in the car all weekend which is a positive, so it’s frustrating to come away with P5 but I’ll look to gain positions in tomorrow’s race to score good points for the team.
McLaren Racing Formula One Team Principal Andrea Stella commented saying:
“A strong qualifying session here for the finale in Abu Dhabi. The car was competitive which allowed Lando and Oscar to fight for the top positions of the grid. Oscar gained confidence throughout the session, and he found his way to put the car in P3, which is a very good starting position for tomorrow’s race.
“On Lando’s side, it was there for pole position until the second to last corner, where unfortunately he had a large oversteer and lost a lot of lap-time. Nevertheless, we are confident for the race and we look forward to finishing the season on a high.