McLaren went through ups and downs during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend which was crucial for the fight for the Constructors’ Championship title fight against Ferrari.
McLaren end an initially positive weekend on a low
Playing for their first match point in Qatar, McLaren failed to finish it at Lusail. The Constructors’ Championship will be decided in Abu Dhabi in the last Grand Prix of the season. Ferrari can still dream and McLaren must prepare to fight to the last corner.
The weekend started incredibly well for McLaren. Norris started the sprint on pole with Piastri near him in P3. There was little for the other teams to do, and no one managed to dethrone the Woking team from the podium.
Norris maintained control of the first position for the duration of the sprint except for the finish when he slowed down to let his teammate pass.
At the end of the day on Saturday, McLaren’s lead over the Maranello team was 30 points. The eyes of the Woking team were therefore on race day where they hoped to increase their lead.
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Race day madness
McLaren started the main race in third and fourth place for Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The first Safety Car appeared on the first lap after Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon were both casualties in an incident with Nico Hulkenberg.
Verstappen and Norris ran first and second for the bulk of the race which featured three safety cars.
The second restart saw Norris run close to Verstappen in a fight for the lead, the World Champion ultimately held on and remained in the position through to the chequered flag.
Norris, meanwhile, saw a certain podium result slip away after being handed a 10-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under yellow flags. He rejoined in last place but managed to climb to 10th position.
Piastri instead, was occupied during the duration of the race in a fight first with George Russell and with Charles Leclerc.
During one of the restarts, Norris went side-by-side with Verstappen before having to back out, whilst Leclerc and Piastri also enjoyed some wheel-to-wheel action which ultimately saw the Ferrari stay ahead.
In the end, the podium saw Max Verstappen in first place, followed by Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri in third.
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What the drivers said
It was a solid start to the race for Norris, who got the better of Mercedes’ George Russell to put himself in a fight with Max Verstappen for P1.
However, what looked to be a podium result slipped away when Norris received a 10-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under double-waved yellow flags earlier on.
“I don’t know if I’ve missed it or just been dumb. But, yeah, the rule is if you don’t slow down under a yellow that’s the penalty, so it’s a fair penalty. […] The team gave me a great car today, so I’m thankful for the team.
“Disappointed that I couldn’t have done a worse job than I did today and not give them the points they deserve, so I’ve made the job of the team much harder than it needs to be. […] The team are doing a great job but I’ve let them down.” – Lando Norris during post-race interviews.
Piastri instead managed to drive a clean and most of all, thrilling race that ultimately saw him taking the third step of the podium.
“Yeah, it was a tricky race, I think. The cars at the front seemed to have very similar pace to each other. And it was really, really tough to make the inroads to get into DRS and then far enough into DRS to overtake. So a couple of good moments with Charles out there.
“And yeah, nice to end up on the podium, but not quite the result we’re looking for. […] Hopefully, we can be strong, but it’s going to take everything we’ve got to seal the deal.” – Oscar Piastri during the post-race conference.
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