McLaren Racing Formula One Team Principal Andrea Stella says that it was a tricky qualifying for the Woking-based outfit for today’s Mexican Grand Prix as Lando Norris will start the race from the back row in 19th place just ahead of Williams Racing’s Logan Sergeant while Oscar Piastri had a slightly better session and starts the race from seventh place.
Speaking following the action, Stella said:
A tricky qualifying here in Mexico City with mixed results. Oscar completed a strong qualifying, building through Q1 and Q2. We thought we had decent pace for Q3, but we didn’t see the step forward in pace that we would have liked. Nevertheless, Oscar lines up in a strong position to score points tomorrow.
“On Lando’s side, we had an issue on the first run, which we are reviewing. This meant we couldn’t put a banker on the timing sheet on the Medium tyre. From there our session was compromised by an imperfect lap from Lando when on Soft tyres and then by the yellow flag on the final lap at an unfortunate time. This sequence of events prevented us from progressing to Q2.
“Our objective for tomorrow remains the same, to score good points. Oscar starts in a good position, and we know the pace in the car merits more than 18th on the grid for Lando, so he will aim to move forward and into the points. Tonight we’ll analyse the data, prepare our plan for the Grand Prix and get ready for an exciting race.
Lando Norris who set a time of 1m19.227s spoke after qualifying saying:
“Today’s result is obviously not what we wanted. An issue with the car on the first run meant we didn’t set the banker lap we needed. I made a mistake on my second run, and didn’t get a chance to complete my third lap due to the yellow flag, but that’s the way it is sometimes. It’s frustrating as the car was good and the speed was there. I’ll bounce back tomorrow.”
Oscar Piastri starts the race from seventh place with a time of 1m17.623s and speaking following the action he commented saying:
“Seventh on the grid. The pace looked good early on, we had a decent Q1, a decent Q2, we just struggled in Q3 with grip for some reason. We’ll have a look and see what we can do tomorrow. We’re still in contention for strong points, and this circuit always throws up opportunities.”
The McLaren team has had a fantastic run of races with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri picking up podiums which has seen them leapfrog the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team into fourth place in the Constructors championship.